


What Dreams May Come

by Zetal (Rodinia)



Series: Soulmate Dreams [5]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: M/M, Soulmate AU, Viktor is a little shit, Yuri needs all the hugs, Yuuri Too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-11-19 12:50:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage
Chapters: 38
Words: 42,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11313762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/pseuds/Zetal
Summary: Viktor and Yuuri are in a good place.  They've got a good dragon's horde of medals already, and are poised to add more to it.  They're sort of planning a wedding.  They've got friends all over the world and the media seems to be pretty well convinced that yes, just maybe, this is all real.Things can't always be as smooth as they should be, though.Sequel toDream Connection,Reality Check,Dreaming With Our Eyes Open, andHere in the Real World.





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chilling after last season and looking ahead to next season.

After the Nishigori wedding, Yuuri and Viktor stuck around Hasetsu long enough to help clean up, and then left for Thailand. Phichit’s family was at the beach again, and Chris and Masumi were already there. “Viktor!” Chris hugged his friend. “I get to be best man, right?”

“Fight Sasha for it. She is my sister.” Viktor winked. "Of course you're best man if you want the job. I have no idea what the job will look like, but it's yours."

Chris laughed. “What about you, Yuuri? Are you going to pick Phichit, or does Mari get it?”

“Probably depends when they do it, if they do it in two years I’ll be fourteen, who wants a fourteen-year-old best man?" Phichit winked. "If you don't pick me, I'm not going to be hurt unless you guys wait a ridiculously long time. Like, if I'm twenty when you get engaged..."

“I don’t know. Depends what I’m going to be asking my best man to do." Yuuri thought for a bit. "For a Japanese wedding, best man’s job is mostly to help me get dressed and make sure I don’t run away, you can handle that now. Probably have you collecting admission charges and wedding gift money.”

“Admission charges?” Viktor certainly didn't remember anything like that. Wedding gift money, yes, Yuuri had told him he would take care of that for both of them since he knew how much would be appropriate.

“For the parties after the wedding. To help pay for the food and renting everything you need. Then the gifts are nearly always money instead of toasters or whatever.”

“I don’t remember…”

Yuuri wrapped his arms around Viktor's waist. “Mom and Dad worked out a deal where they reduced the cost for renting Yu-Topia and the food in exchange for Katsukis not having to pay admission fees. You were covered in that.”

“I’m not a Katsuki.” Yet, anyway. Not officially.

Yuuri just shrugged and held on tighter. “As long as I’m still happy, you’re as good as. You've even convinced Mari!”

 

Paul and Skye got to Thailand a couple days later. Chris and Masumi had to leave shortly after to meet up with some of Masumi’s family in Indonesia. Seung Gil came down with his mom the day after Chris left. Phichit was excited to introduce Seung Gil to Yuuri and Viktor. Yuuri's face lit up when Phichit introduced him. “You’re the one who’s helping Phichit pass math. Thank you!”

Seung Gil didn't smile back. “You’re the one motivating him to learn. Thank you. It’s good to have the competition.”

“Are you moving up to juniors with him, then?”

“Yes.”

“You two should look for the Crispino twins. Michele’s really good. Don’t hit on his sister and you should be able to be friends.”

“That won’t be a problem,” Seung Gil promised.

Phichit snorted. “We’re a bit young to be hitting on anyone, wouldn’t you say? How old are they?”

"They're fourteen, they'll be fifteen in September. I think." Yuuri shrugged. “Michele is really sensitive about his sister. Other than that, he's really a good guy. So just… be careful, okay?"

“If he’s enough of a dumbass that other people have to be careful around him, then I really don’t care what he thinks of me.” Seung Gil turned and ran for the ocean. Phichit just shrugged apologetically before running after him.

Seung Gil didn’t really improve on acquaintance. Viktor was nice, because Phichit liked him for some unknowable reason, but he was certainly not going to be making much effort to befriend the Korean skater on his own accord. Yuuri seemed to agree.

 

Viktor was ready to get back on the ice when they got back to Russia. With the Olympics coming up, he needed to come up with the best programs he’d ever done. Yuuri, too. Viktor had a couple ideas, but he wanted to get on the ice and skate through some things to figure out which ones he liked best. “Do you know what you want to do, Yuuri?”

Yuuri shrugged. “Minako said I should do wedding music, but that’s just silly.”

Viktor put a finger to his lips in mock consideration. “I don’t know, I like it.”

“You would.” Yuuri grinned and shook his head. “Next year, maybe. I was thinking maybe space? For the free skate, I can do something from “The Planets”. I'd need to listen to it again to pick one. Then either pick something else from The Planets or go through science fiction movies to find a good short program song. Star Wars has some great stuff.”

“That sounds like fun!” It suited Yuuri, too. It would probably stand out in an Olympic year.

“Thanks! What about you? What are you doing?”

“Not sure yet. I was kind of thinking of scaring the crap out of Yakov by getting religion.”

“Why would that scare Yakov?”

“Because I couldn’t do what was expected and use Orthodox music!” Viktor grinned. “Maybe I’ll get Yurio to help me do a cat theme.”

Yuuri bent over laughing. He wiped away tears as he recovered his breath. “Yakov wouldn’t let you. Not in an Olympic year.”

“I know." Viktor sighed. "Everyone’s going to be doing serious themes, though, cats would definitely surprise everyone and make me memorable!”

“It would. There’s still Yakov.”

“Yeah…”

“Minako wanted me to do the wedding music theme to troll the reporters. Unlike me, you’re a good actor, you can go even further to annoy them."

Viktor raised an eyebrow. "You have an idea."

Yuuri's smile became extremely mischievous. "Do some sort of heartache or breakup theme.”

It was Viktor's turn to laugh so hard he was crying. “That’s perfect!”

As predicted, Yakov vetoed the cats immediately. Yurio pouted until Viktor promised that when Yurio was ready to start choreographing his own programs, Viktor would help him do a cat theme the first chance that wasn’t an Olympic year. Yakov was skeptical that Viktor could pull off a heartache theme, but agreed to give him a chance with it. Yuuri’s space theme met with full approval.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, looking at possible ideas for themes for this season... remember Yuuri's iconic "Lohengrin" performance? You know what one of the songs from Lohengrin is?
> 
> [You're welcome.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J7Jhx93s9w)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Program development time and everyone loves their kitten.

Viktor talked to his composer friend about music. While waiting, he worked with Yuuri to select music and choreograph his programs, kept working with Yuuri on the quad toe loop, and spent his free time working on a quad flip. Yakov was a little surprised when Viktor announced his intention to do one, but he couldn’t argue that Viktor had the skill and that it would set him apart from everyone else.

“Are you seriously thinking you’re going to do that in a competition?” Misha asked as Viktor once again fell from too much forward momentum on the landing.

Viktor picked himself up with a big smile. “Hopefully not exactly that! But, yes, at the very latest by the Olympics, this is going to be part of my free skate. After all, since Yuuri broke up with me, I needed something to take my mind off of my misery!”

Everyone came to a halt and turned to stare at Yuuri, who went into a layback spin. When he stopped and everyone was still staring at him, he shrugged. “Don’t tell him this, but if I get to kiss gold in Vancouver, I’ll take him back.”

“You… wait, you two seriously…” Georgi looked between them. “What the fuck. What happens if he doesn’t win gold?”

Yuuri looked Georgi straight in the eye. “Then clearly he wasn’t so distraught about losing me to want it badly enough.”

“But… you two… when?” Mila asked. “You were acting perfectly normally when you showed up this morning…”

Viktor skated over to Yuuri and hugged him tight. “We're just kidding around! It's practice." He winked. "If we can fool you guys, we can have lots of fun with the media this year.”

“If I weren’t wearing skates, I would kick both of you morons,” Yurio grumbled. “You suck. I hate you both.”

“Awww, you say the sweetest things, Yurio.” Viktor let go of Yuuri and mussed up Yurio’s hair. “Misha, Georgi, Yuuri and I are going to be trolling the media through my programs. Play along or don’t, either way is great. This is going to be so much fun.”

 

Yuri started getting very antsy around May 14th. No matter what, he’d be going to Moscow by the 20th to stay for the rest of the month, but he really wanted to know if his mom was going to be there. They hadn't heard anything since her stop in St. Petersburg in March.

His phone finally rang on the 17th – Irina would be in Moscow by the next day, eager to see Yuri and Potya. Yakov helped him pack and get onto the train, and let Nikolai know he was coming so he could pick up his grandson. Nikolai was as happy as Yuri was to hear Irina was coming home – he hadn’t seen his daughter in a very long time.

Yuri was gone for two weeks, during which no one heard a single cat fact. It affected Mila the most, since she was the closest to his age, but everyone missed their little kitten. Yuuri especially missed him at ballet - Georgi and Mila were still taking lessons from Lilia, but neither showed the aptitude that the Yuris did.

When Yuri came back, he was rather sullen and angry, even for him. Unless it was about skating, tigers, or Potya, he refused to talk. At first, everyone just assumed he was upset that his mom was gone again and that after a day or two he’d come around. There was no improvement after several days, and it took Yakov calling Nikolai to find out what was wrong.

Irina had come to Moscow with the intention of staying two weeks, time that she would spend with her father and her son. Then she got a call, and there was a very small job in Moscow – and she could bring Yuri and Nikolai with her. That had sounded good and she accepted. One day wasn’t so bad, and it was a chance to show Yuri what she was doing, which would be good bonding. After that job, though, she started spending more time on the phone with Boris than she did with Yuri and Nikolai.

Nikolai had asked to talk to Boris, to ask him to give Irina this time with her family, but Irina had refused. There was a big fight over it, Irina insisting that she could handle her own affairs and Nikolai asking her to consider that maybe she couldn’t if Boris wasn’t respecting her need to spend time with her son. When Irina left for London, she wouldn’t commit to when she’d be back, even a simple "I'll try" after her trip to London. 

 

The second Yakov signed off on Viktor’s programs, he and Yuuri were on the phones warning their publicists what they were going to be doing. Viktor’s publicist thought it was hilarious and promised his full support. Yuuri’s was much less enthusiastic, but knew enough to know that the best thing to do was just to go along with the plan.

Warning Phichit went a lot less smoothly. “Phichit! Hi. You’re probably going to be hearing from the publicists, but Viktor’s theme for the year is broken hearts.”

“What the hell!? Yuuri, why would you break up with Viktor? Have you lost your mind?”

“No I have not lost my mind. I’m not breaking up with Viktor. But we’re hoping the press jumps to that conclusion, and we’re going to be messing with them…”

“The Hamsters are not going to like this, Yuuri. You may lose some fans.”

“It’s just for fun, Phichit. We’re not going to act any differently. Go to each other’s competitions when we can, kiss each other’s gold medals. Just mess with heads in interviews when they ask about Viktor’s theme. Yakov and Misha are going to act normally, aside from not busting our joke, and Lilia and Georgi are going to play along. The media has done so much to try to mess with us, we’re just getting even.”

“You’re still probably going to lose some fans.” Phichit sighed. “On the other hand, you’ll probably gain some new ones, too. I’ll warn Hamster leadership. We’ll figure out how to handle it with the Brigade.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Assignments and another trip to Hasetsu

In June, Yakov whistled everyone off the ice into a meeting. “Assignments are out. Ready to go over them?” Yuuri felt a wash of anxiety. He’d get two events, he wasn’t worried about that, but the level of competition was going to be so much higher. Still, he nodded along with everyone else. May as well know.

“All right. With four skaters, it’s inevitable that some of you are going to go head to head, so I’m just going to go through the events. First up is Eric Bompard in France. Which none of you are in.”

Misha’s brow furrowed. “That’s weird. You’d think with four of us they’d try to spread us around better than that.”

“You’d think, but they didn’t. Next, Moscow. From this rink, Misha and Georgi. Cao Bin will be there, so Misha, you’re going to need to be ready. Japan’s Masato will be there, too, so it’s not going to be easy for you either, Georgi.”

“Got it.”

“Beijing… Yuuri, this one’s just you. Some strong competition, although Aaron Delmote always starts slow so you might be able to take advantage of that, and Kaleb and Zemin struggled last year. Your friend Paul’s going to be there, too.”

“No Rykov?” That was a genuine surprise. Perfectly welcome, but a surprise.

“No Rykov. I am not going to complain.” Yakov cleared his throat. “Vitya, you should be happy, you’re in the NHK. Bin and Masato, too, so you’ll have your work cut out for you… and you do have Rykov to deal with.”

“They invited Rykov to Japan?” Viktor started laughing. “This should be fun.”

Yuuri shuddered as he realized something. “You realize this means you’re debuting the heartbreak theme in my home country. And with Rykov right there.” This was kind of perfect, really, but also high pressure.

Viktor grinned. If he felt the pressure, it wasn’t bothering him a bit. “I stand corrected. This is going to be a lot of fun.”

“Control yourself, you do have to compete, you know.” Yakov glared at Viktor until he settled down. “Misha, Georgi, you’re both in Skate America. Kamil’s there, but other than that, no one the two of you shouldn’t be able to beat. Paul, maybe, since it’s his country.”

Yuuri and Viktor looked at each other. “Leaving the two of us for Skate Canada,” Yuuri said. “They’ve got to be happy.”

“I’m sure they are. As far as competition goes, you’ve got Chris and Kaleb, so you’ll have your work cut out for you. You’ll also have to deal with Rykov. Vitya, you should be able to win this easily, but if you get distracted…”

“Yakov, when have you ever known me to not have my head on the ice when I was skating, even on my eighteenth birthday I was able to focus. I’ll be fine.” Yakov shook his head, but Viktor ignored him and put his arms around Yuuri. “Yuuri, you’ll come to my competitions, won’t you?”

“If my coach will let me. I’m going to be busy during your second competition, you know.”

Yakov rolled his eyes. “If you do well in China, you can go to Japan. Vitya, China’s too close.”

 

Not long afterward, Yuuri had to go to Japan. Some of his sponsors wanted to do some photoshoots and commercials with Japan’s rising young stars from Hasetsu. Viktor went with him, with Yakov’s blessing. Yuuko and Takeshi were very pleased to see them.

“Grand Prix! Yuuri, did you see? I’m coming to Russia!”

“I saw that! I’m sorry I’m not going to be there, but I have China the next week, so Yakov’s not going to let me go to Moscow.”

“I don’t compete again until Skate America, so Nishigori said that I can go to St. Petersburg for a couple days. I won’t be able to come to the NHK, Viktor, not with Skate America the next week.”

“Well, I’ll see you in St. Petersburg and at the Finals, I hope!”

The next few days were busy with shooting schedules, at various places in Hasetsu. Viktor and Takeshi were included in some of the photos. They were usually exhausted by the time they got back to Yu-Topia. “What are you skating to, Yuuri?” Takeshi asked over dinner with the Katsuki family one night.

“My short program’s to ‘Across the Stars’ from Star Wars.”

“Oh, how cute!” Yuuko squealed. “I should’ve guessed you’d do a love song.”

"Terrible movie, though," Takeshi said. "Why would you do THAT one?"

“Because it's good music even if the movie sucked, and yes, I know, my love story really does not need to resemble Anakin and Padme's at all." Yuuri reached for Viktor's hand to squeeze it. "And then I’m doing my free skate to Jupiter from ‘The Planets.’ Space theme. What about you?”

Yuuko started giggling. “Wow. I’m doing Venus from ‘The Planets’ for my free skate! No one is going to believe we didn’t do that on purpose.”

“No offense, but I wouldn’t have figured you for a bringer of jollity, Yuuri. Why Jupiter?” Mari asked.

“I thought about doing Venus, but decided there wasn’t enough contrast with ‘Across the Stars’. I’m not the Bringer of Jollity. Viktor is. It’s… this is kind of complicated, so bear with me, here. Viktor’s doing a heartbreak theme.”

Shocked reactions from everyone. “Why?” Minako asked.

“Because Yakov wouldn’t let me do cats.” Viktor winked. “It’s a joke. We’re going to have some fun with it, though.”

“So I’m doing the bringer of jollity with a love song as a hint to the fans that it’s just a prank. I don't expect everyone to necessarily work it out, but Phichit's got the Hamsters ready to plant the theory on the Internet, so hopefully it'll get around to the fans,” Yuuri explained. “It’s also a better contrast with ‘Across the Stars’ and gives me a chance to show off during the step sequences.”

"Glad you warned us," Mari said. "I might have had to hurt someone."

Minako nodded. "Good luck."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Months pass. Some people compete, but not Yuuri or Viktor.

For the next few months, Yuuri and Viktor kept their heads down and their focus on the ice. When the Junior Grand Prix got started, Misha and Viktor took the opportunity to tease Yuuri about how much Yakov must be thrilled that Yuuri moved up, because it meant his travel season didn’t start for an extra month and a half.

Yakov found it amusing, but made sure Yuuri didn’t start believing it. “Don’t listen to them. I’m happy you moved up because it was time for you to. If you’d needed another year in Juniors, I would have told you that, and if you’d wanted another year, I’d have told you to take it.”

Phichit was very excited for his first Junior Grand Prix. Thailand could only enter one skater in two events, but they didn’t have anyone else to enter, so Phichit got both events. He and Seung Gil were both competing in Minsk at the end of September, and Viktor and Yuuri managed to convince Yakov to let them go watch. For Yuuri, it was a successful landing of the quad toe loop; for Viktor, good progress on his quad flip. Neither of them were competition ready, but neither of them planned to use their new quads in their first competitions. Yuuri was hoping for Canada, while Viktor was aiming for the Olympics.

There had been a few phone calls from Irina, but Yuri still had no idea when he’d see his mother again. He'd gotten a little less sullen since coming back to St. Petersburg, but not much. With Yakov’s permission, Viktor and Yuuri invited him to come to Minsk with them in the hopes of cheering him up a bit.

Phichit was very surprised to see them, and nearly tackled Yuuri with a hug. Viktor got a hug too, but he was too big to tackle. “Hi guys! This is so cool! Yuri too! Hi Yuri! Seung Gil, this is Yuri Plisetsky, one day he’s going to be better than all of us. Or so he says.” Phichit nearly picked Yuri up with his enthusiastic hug.

“I am going to be better than all of you.” Yuri shoved Phichit off of him and jerked his thumb at Viktor. “Even this old geezer.”

Viktor mussed his hair. “Keep telling yourself that. It’ll be a long time before we’re competing against each other.”

“2016. I’ll be fifteen, eligible to move up to seniors, and you won’t be so ancient that you can’t compete anymore. I’m moving up as soon as I can, unlike the Piggy here.”

“What’s the hurry? I’m probably gonna stay in Juniors a couple years after I get the option, unless I turn into Yuuri and win everything I enter,” Phichit said, and Yuuri blushed.

Yuri scowled. “For Grandpa. I don’t trust Mama anymore, and it’s only gonna get harder for him.”

“What if your soulmate shows up and is some rich person who can give your grandpa everything he wants?” Phichit asked.

“That’s not how I’m introducing myself to my soulmate. ‘Hi, I’m Yuri, my grandpa’s struggling to work enough to support himself can you magically solve everything?’ That’s not how life works. My soulmate’s probably crappy anyway, like Mama’s was. Although maybe Mama deserved him.” Yuuri wanted to hug him, but decided against trying.

“What’s worse, a crappy soulmate or no soulmate?” Seung Gil asked. Yuri didn’t have an answer for that before Seung Gil excused himself and headed off.

Seung Gil’s skating was technically very good, but he had all the performance of a robot. Phichit had the opposite problem – his base value was lower than almost everyone else in the competition, but he was one hell of a showman. Neither of them were challenging for a medal, but Seung Gil snuck into the final group for the free skate. After the free skate, Seung Gil was seventh, and Phichit sixth. The only thing either of them wasn’t happy about was Seung Gil lost their bet and had to let Phichit take and post a selfie with him.

 

When they got back, everything really kicked into high gear. Phichit competed again in Turkey, but Yuuri didn’t even try to go, not with competitions coming up. This time, Phichit took fifth, which he was pleased with. He wouldn’t be competing at the Finals, but planned to go anyway if Viktor or Yuuri made it.

There was good news from Trophee Eric Bompard: Chris placed third, behind Kamil and Aaron. It wasn’t great, especially competing against Viktor and Yuuri in Skate Canada, but he’d put himself in a good position to have a chance. He’d spent most of the competition hanging out with Skye, who placed third in the ladies’ skate, and Paul. “I wish you guys could have come. You’ll love Paris, Yuuri.”

“Maybe next summer? Or… we’ll figure something out, I’m sure. I can’t imagine Viktor lets me make it through life without going to Paris, even if the ISU selection committee never sends me there, or him when I can go.”

Viktor hugged him. "I'll take you to Paris sometime. I promise. It's a beautiful city."

Yuri went with Misha and Georgi to Moscow, and Nikolai took him to watch. Misha introduced Yuri to Yuuko, and Yuri latched onto her. Takeshi didn’t mind, and even offered an alternative coach’s perspective on some things that the skaters were doing. Sasha came to hang out as well, when she could around her practice schedule.

Misha finished second behind Cao Bin, and Georgi came in fourth behind Masato. Georgi was disappointed, although he wasn’t out of the running just yet, and he had a good shot at silver in America.

When she and Takeshi got to St. Petersburg, Yuuko proudly showed off her shiny silver medal. “I didn’t expect to do so well! This was kind of a weak field, none of the top skaters were there, not like Canada’s going to be, but still, isn’t this amazing?”

“It is!” Yuuri took the medal and kissed it. “I hope I do as well next week.”

Yuuri and Viktor had a lot of fun showing Yuuko and Takeshi around St. Petersburg. Yuri tagged along as much as they’d let him, still completely attached to Yuuko. The Nishigoris left to go back to Japan when Yakov and Yuuri took off for Beijing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so late. I don't know what the heck is wrong with my brain today, but it did NOT want to work.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cup of China! Yuuri debuts his programs.

This was Yuuri’s second time in Beijing. Last time, he’d come with Viktor. This time, it was just him and Yakov. At least Paul and Skye were there so he wasn’t entirely on his own. After practices, the three of them went out looking around Beijing until supper, when Yuuri headed back to his room to call Viktor.

“Hello, Yuuri! How’s Beijing?”

“About the same as last year. It’s Skye’s first time here, so we went to the Olympic village and the Forbidden City. How’s St. Petersburg?”

“Lonely! The dogs miss you. So do the cats.”

“Cats? Potya, of course… does Yuri have another one?”

“No. Yuri is the other one. He’ll never admit he misses you, but he does.”

“Aw. I miss him too. I’ll do my best to bring him a medal!”

 

Yakov called looking for Yuuri. “Where are you? It’s time to go to the rink.”

“Oh, sorry!” Yuuri pulled his phone away from his ear. “I texted you, but it looks like it didn’t go through. I’m at the rink already. Skye wanted to watch the ladies’ skate, and Paul and I decided to go with her.”

Yakov chuckled. “Of all my skaters, you are the only one I’ve ever had to find and found exactly where they were supposed to be. Usually I’m hauling Viktor in from a shopping trip. Or a nap. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

Yuuri headed for the changing room to get dressed. His costume for “Across the Stars” was based on one of Padme’s dresses from the movie, pale yellow at the top fading into pink in the middle and then a deep blue at the bottom, resembling a sunrise. For practical reasons, it wasn’t nearly as drapy or flowy, and for both practical and rule-based reasons, he had trousers instead of a skirt, but he hoped the connection was still obvious.

Paul raised an eyebrow at it. “Why didn’t you do a Jedi outfit like Anakin’s? Would’ve been easier.”

“But boring, and I couldn’t really do the robe. I like this.” Yuuri tied the front of the shirt closed. “Besides, didn’t you see what I wore for my short program last year? Anything would be better than that.”

Paul snorted. “Yeah, you’re right there. That was awful.”

Yuuri and Paul had both been put in the second group. The standout of the first group was Kaleb, who put up a score above 80 and held a fifteen-point lead over Zemin, who had struggled after missing an attempt at a quad toe loop. Paul cut that in half, scoring in the low 70s with his routine.

Yuuri took the ice and started strong with a beautiful camel spin. His jump combination went well, and he shone during his step sequences. He stumbled a bit on a triple loop out of a spiral, but not enough that he thought it would hurt him too badly. He finished on his second step sequence, drilling home the beauty of his performance.

For his first performance, it was very solid, and Yuuri was quite proud of himself as he listened to Yakov’s lecture. His score of 81 put him only a few tenths behind Kaleb. They were both beaten by Aaron, but Yuuri was quite pleased with his short program debut in the senior Grand Prix.

As expected, the reporters pounced on his choice of a love theme. “It’s beautiful music. I certainly hope my love story with Viktor has a better ending than the one in the movie, but Anakin and Padme were very much in love.”

“It’s quite a shame Viktor couldn’t be here with you when you performed it for the first time.”

Yuuri bit his cheek to hold back the laughter. “Yes, it is, but he’ll be there next time I perform it. I plan to be with him next week in Japan to see him.”

“He’s been very secretive about his programs for the year. Can you give us a hint what we’ll see next week?”

This time, Yuuri couldn’t quite hold it in. “It’s Viktor. You all should know by now how he loves surprising people. I’m afraid he’d break up with me if I gave spoilers!”

 

Viktor thought Yuuri’s interview was hilarious, thankfully. Paul thought he had to be exaggerating. “I’ve been around you and Viktor. He’d never break up with you over something as stupid as giving them a hint.”

“Oh, he would. For, like, five minutes before he was filled with regret and took me right back. He almost broke up with me over this outfit.” Yuuri zipped up the bodysuit. At first, Viktor had said he looked like a clown in it – which was somewhat fair, the tan suit with its red spots and white stripes did look rather silly. Yuuri had decided to embrace it, though. “Bringer of Jollity – that’s a clown, right? Turns out Viktor does not like clowns.”

“Ha!” Paul stared. “It does look a little clowny… but you don’t have the makeup. You’re not doing clown makeup, are you?”

“No. If I did, Viktor wouldn’t kiss my gold medals. If I win any this year.”

Zemin recovered a bit from his struggles the day before, but not nearly enough. Paul was able to beat him handily. Yuuri took the ice next. He started off strong with a solid triple axel, straight into a step sequence. Later in the season, this was to give him confidence for the quad he’d be attempting, but for now, he did a triple toe loop in its place. He ran into a bit of trouble on his first combination, touching a hand to the ice, and stumbled again on the triple Lutz after it. He was able to focus himself through a flying camel spin, enough to calm down and finish without any more errors, but it could have gone better.

Yakov made sure to let him know it. One mistake needed to be one mistake, not hanging over him the rest of the performance. His score was still very good – 155 – enough to put him in first for now and guarantee himself a medal. Kaleb also had a couple mistakes, which dropped him below Yuuri overall, but Aaron came out and did well enough to secure himself the gold medal. Yuuri was very pleased with his silver.

“Yuuri! Your friend and former rinkmate, Yuuko, is also skating to music from ‘The Planets’. Did the two of you plan that?”

“No. The first Yuuko and I knew that we were using the same piece was after it was decided and we were both settling into our choreography. I’d even thought about using Venus, but I decided that the music was too similar to Across the Stars.”

“Some people might take this as evidence that you and she are soulmates, because of how alike you think. What would you say to them?”

“I’d say that Takeshi and Viktor would like to have a word with them. Yuuko and I are friends. We grew up together. For a long time, we shared a coach, a school, a ballet instructor, and a dream. It shouldn’t surprise people that every once in a while, we share an idea. Yuuko’s skate is very different from mine, we’re both saying very different things, we just happened to choose the same music.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Padme's gown.](http://www.vivandierdesigns.com/uploads/3/5/5/0/3550870/4087031.jpg)   
>  [Jupiter.](http://media.salon.com/2015/04/shutterstock_187788812.jpg)


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NHK Part 1!

Viktor was somewhat wound up on the flight out to Japan. He’d done a very good job of keeping his theme under wraps, and he couldn’t be mad at all about Yuuri’s hint from China because it was perfect. He could not have scripted this any better than to have it happen in Japan, with Rykov there. Now it was just a matter of waiting for the short program.

Mari and Minako had come to watch, and met them at the airport with hugs. “You’re going to kick Cao Bin’s ass, right, Viktor?” Minako said.

“Yakov expects me to, since he beat Misha in Moscow. That is definitely the plan.”

Mari nodded. “Well, good luck. We’re here to console Yuuri and glare at you when needed.”

“Why are you glaring at me? I’m the one with a broken heart, here!” Viktor put a hand to his heart and staggered back a couple steps.

Mari was very much unsympathetic. “Because Yuuri wouldn’t have broken your heart without a good reason. He loves you too much.”

“Awwww, Yuuri!” Viktor hugged Yuuri, who glared at his sister but hugged back enthusiastically.

 

Viktor drew a few odd looks at practice, especially since he decided to take the spot next to Rykov. That got him an odd look from Yakov. “If you’re not going to take this seriously, it’s not too late for me to go to Celje with Lilia and Mila. Have fun explaining why Yuuri is coaching you.”

“That… would be fun.” The press would love it, Viktor was certain. “But I am taking this seriously, Yakov! You’ll see!”

Viktor’s practice went to Yakov’s satisfaction, at least. He was much less grumpy when he sent Viktor off to explore the city or whatever it was he planned to do. Viktor took Yuuri, Mari, and Minako exploring. Nagano was the host of a Winter Olympics, so they went to check out everything they could find. They were skating at the Olympic ice rink, which was already cool, and there were several other places around. They also went to the Monkey Park, where they got to see monkeys in the hot springs. Mari got a kick out of it. “They’re better behaved than some of our guests!”

 

For his short program, Viktor’s music was based on the initial stunned reaction, before anything had really sunk in. His costume was designed just to be pretty, a dark green and white two-piece outfit sparkling with rhinestones.

Yakov didn’t have a whole lot to say. “Watch that sit spin. You’re not exactly nailing the flying entry every time.”

“I know. I’ll be okay, though.”

“You’d better. I’m not having Cao Bin beat both of my top skaters.”

Masato was the first of the contending skaters to take the ice, and he did reasonably well, putting up a 78 after a few small mistakes that added up. Cao Bin stole the lead from him with an 85. There was a Canadian skater, Kyle Tremblay, between Bin and Viktor, who did unexpectedly well, nearly tying Masato.

Viktor started off with a bang. Very little warmup before his triple axel, followed almost immediately by a quad Salchow. That left him a bit tired, and he did end up skidding a bit on the flying entry to his sit spin. After that, everything went smoothly, but it was going to cost him.

The crowd was a little stunned by the performance, Viktor could tell as he picked up poodles and flowers on his way off the ice. As expected, Yakov led off with the spin. He had plenty of other things to say, too, and Viktor listened a little more attentively than usual. When his score came up, Yakov was not exactly pleased – 84 was not good enough for the lead. One point difference should be easy enough to make up in the free skate, but it meant that there was no room for mistakes unless Bin screwed up as well. Rykov’s score was good, too, but not up with the leaders.

Yuuri didn’t come to meet him before he faced the media. That was very weird, but they’d arranged that. It would work better if he faced the media alone. It’s not like he hadn’t been doing that for years.

“That was a very convincing portrayal of heartbreak!”

“Thank you. Was that a question somehow? If so, I didn’t understand.”

“You’ve been living the dream with a beautiful soulmate who loves you. How did you pull that off?”

“Rather well, judging by my presentation score." Viktor winked as they laughed, but then put on his most serious face. "The media should know by now that sometimes things aren’t what they seem to be.”

“So, you and Yuuri…”

“Are not what the Internet make us out to be. If you’ll excuse me, I think my coach wants to yell at me some more for that spin.” The reporters seemed to be in shock, which Viktor took full advantage of to get away.

 

Viktor and Yuuri waited patiently for the internet to explode. Up first: a frantic text from Chris. 

_**WHAT HAPPENED VIKTOR DO I HAVE TO SEND CHOCOLATE.** _

Yuuri smacked him. “Did you not warn him like you were supposed to?”

“I… may have forgotten.” Viktor texted back.

**Don’t worry! Yuuri and I are fine. I forgot to warn you. I’m sorry. We’re having a bit of fun with the media.**

There were also texts from several other friends, who got similar answers. Most of them thought it was hilarious, but Paul was rather hurt that Yuuri didn’t give him a heads up in Japan.

_**Did you actually break up for five minutes so Viktor could have the experience to draw on?** _

**No, but we probably should have. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.**  
**Once again, I'm sorry I didn't tell you then, but I didn't want to take the risk of being overheard.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd meant to do the free skate too, but I'm having internet trouble. Hopefully it will be fixed by tomorrow!


	7. Chapter 7

Phichit and some of the other Hamsters had a skillful dissection of Viktor’s words before Yuuri and Viktor went to bed, along with a reminder that Viktor loved surprises and pranks, and until they heard something that could not be interpreted any other way, they would not believe in The Breakup That Shook The Skating World. Viktor even got a text from Phichit thanking him for his lovely ambiguity.

The next day, people stared when Viktor and Yuuri went out to lunch. Viktor took Yuuri’s hand and squeezed it. “Are you all right?”

“There are people out there who hate me for breaking your heart. I knew this was going to happen, and Larissa and I have been working on ways to deal with it, but that doesn’t make it much easier right this second, you know? With the people staring at us?”

Viktor’s heart sank and he tangled his fingers with Yuuri’s. “True. If there’s anything I can do to help besides what I’m already doing, just say the word.” Even if this had been Yuuri’s idea, there was no way Viktor was going to let him struggle. He’d call the whole prank off if Yuuri asked.

Yuuri shook his head. “I’ll let you know, but for right now, we’re good. After all, it’s kind of fun, too.”

 

The free skate, this was the depression stage. Viktor’s costume was made of heavy fabric in dark violet and blue, but heavily glittered. After all – the show must go on. His music was mostly original, but it began with Freddie Mercury. Yakov stared him down. “You’re sure about this?”

“It’s a little late to change now, isn’t it? I’m sure. This one doesn’t have any tricky bits that I can’t quite get down in practice, at least, not as I plan to do it here.” Viktor finished coiling his hair up. “Maybe I should cut my hair… I can’t really pull off the androgynous look like I used to… and it’s kind of a pain to tie up all the time.”

“Talk to Yuuri first.” Yakov handed Viktor his gloves. “I know you and your surprises, but just trust me on that one.”

“It’s my hair.” Yuuri probably would be sad about Viktor cutting his hair, but was he really expected to consult Yuuri first?

 

With the help of his quad, Rykov put up a huge score. Viktor could beat it, but Kyle couldn’t. Masato, at least, was able to take the lead away from him, meaning that as long as Viktor and Bin could perform decently, they could keep the little twit off the podium.

Viktor started off somewhat slowly with a triple flip and a combination spin. His quad toe loop was good, and he could feel the performance getting through. His flying camel spin went almost perfectly, in contrast to his flying spin from the short program, and he finished up solidly. There was quite a bit of improvement he could do, even without the added quad, but it was a good program.

Yakov, of course, made sure to tell him about everything. His score was good, almost 158, but not good enough that he felt comfortable. Cao Bin could still win this with a solid program. He did, too. His score was just a little lower, not even a full point, not enough lower to wipe out the lead from the short program. Yakov was not happy about it as Viktor claimed his silver medal. Neither was Viktor. Silver was not good enough. At least he could honestly say that it wasn’t a media distraction or a lack of focus, although he could use quite a bit more practice on that spin before going to Canada.

 

“Viktor! This is your first silver medal in over a year. How do you feel?”

First lie of the day, then. At least this was the kind of lie everyone expected from every athlete. No one went out there and said bad things about someone who beat them. Viktor liked surprises and all, but he was a good sport. “I’m disappointed, of course, but Cao Bin skated very well, and I’m happy for him. Two golds and a return to the Finals, good for him. I think I’ve got a very good shot to earn my trip in Canada, with this silver medal, and this one matches my hair better.”

“Are you and Yuuri still friends?”

“Of course we’re still friends! We’ve never not been friends, not since I first went to him in Hasetsu. Why do you ask that?”

“The two of you were spotted at lunch together, and just the fact that he’s here instead of working toward Canada… for a couple with a recent breakup, you’re not really acting like anyone would expect.”

Viktor chuckled. Silly reporter. “When have I ever done anything the way people expect?”

“True. But even so…”

“You have to remember, you’re only seeing the program now, but I’ve been working on this for months. Maybe someday I’ll be good enough to throw a program together in two weeks or whatever timeframe it is you’re working on, but I’m not quite there yet!”

“So you and Yuuri broke up a long time ago? Despite starting to talk marriage, and that beautiful pair skate exhibition?”

“Yuuri didn’t like all the talk that we were engaged. How many times did we say we weren’t? It’s quite frustrating when you feel like you’re not being heard, and can you blame him for letting it get to him? I’m a bit more used to it, having been in the spotlight so much longer, and I don’t have much in the way of family to be confused by the conflicting messages.” It wasn’t Yuuri’s immediate family, it was extended family and the people of Hasetsu, but when they’d gone for Yuuko and Takeshi’s wedding, Yuuri had to deal with a lot more attention than he’d wanted to. Even now, Yuuri was still getting confused calls from cousins every now and then.

“Is this going to have an impact on your skating in Canada, do you think? Since the two of you will be skating against each other?”

“I plan on walking out with him, cheering when he does well, and if he earns the gold I’ll kiss it and I would expect he’d kiss mine if I take the gold. So, no, I don’t think it does. We’re both too good at what we do to even consider throwing a program so the other could beat us, and I can’t speak for Yuuri, but if I found out that he had thrown a program for me, I’d be furious. I enjoy winning, who doesn’t, but I’m still very much looking forward to the day Yuuri beats me.”

There were a few more questions, but mostly about skating, and Viktor got out of there with only having told the one lie. This time, there was no explosion on his phone from concerned friends and family who hadn’t been let in on the secret, so nothing to distract him from kissing Yuuri while they waited for the internet to catch up.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reactions from friends and family to The Prank, Skate America, and a reunion with Chris in Canada.

As soon as they were back home, Yuuri turned on his computer. “Viktor! They’ve talked to friends and family!”

“Ooo! What have people been saying?” Viktor came to look over Yuuri’s shoulder.

“Let’s see… Georgi started crying and talking about how precious our love had been, and how he never wanted to see such love end. On the other hand, Misha said that if we’ve broken up, we forgot to tell him about it, and he sure couldn’t tell based on the way we’re all over each other and you’re still sleeping over here half the time. Chris…” Yuuri started snickering. “Chris went on a rant about so-called best friends who can’t be bothered to tell their best friends anything, leaving them to be ambushed by seeing things on the Internet.”

Viktor giggled. “I deserve that. I owe him something huge as an apology.”

“Yes, you do. Paul’s joined Misha in not playing along, he said that as of the Cup of China, we were still together, good as ever. He pointed to my comment about you breaking up with me if I gave out hints about your programs and said that he was buying the Hamster Theory that we’re pranking everyone.”

Viktor blinked. “The Hamster Theory.”

“The Hamster Theory. Speaking of, they don’t mention Phichit by name, but ‘a prominent leader within the Yuuri Katsuki fanclub and organizer for the Viktuuri fanclub’ says that once again, you managed to let them draw their own conclusions without ever coming out and saying there was a breakup, and he still wasn’t going to believe in the breakup until he heard the actual words come out of one of our mouths.”

“The Hamster Theory.” It still made no sense.

Yuuri looked at him like he was being dense. “It’s a theory, it came from my fanclub, my fanclub calls themselves the Hamster Brigade, why are you stuck on this?”

“It just makes us sound… it sounds like we’re hamsters. I hate being stuck in a little ball, and if I’m going to go running, I want to feel like I’m getting somewhere, not staying in one place! I hate treadmills. I can't imagine wheels are much better."

Yuuri started giggling. “No, that’s a different theory, the Hamsters In A Trenchcoat theory, that I’m not really a person, I’m just thirty hamsters stacked together wearing a trenchcoat so that your real soulmate can hide from the press.” Viktor stared at him. “You hadn’t heard that one? Phichit nearly passed out from a lack of oxygen the first time he heard it, he was laughing so hard. Anyway. They got hold of Mari. Her quote, in its entirety: ‘Viktor’s still breathing.’ And Sasha… ‘I don’t know. Vitya and I don’t really talk about his love life. I sure hope not, though, they were going to invite me to the wedding, and Russian weddings are fun.’”

“We have fun sisters.”

“Yes, we do. And finally, Yuuko says that the only thing she’s heard about us breaking up is that comment I made in Beijing. Good mix from our friends. The comments… everyone’s confused. Hamster Theory’s got a fair bit of support, the people who hated us or me already are all for it being real and thank god for small miracles, some of your fan club is mad at me for breaking your heart. Not too bad.”

Viktor wrapped his arms around Yuuri. “You’re sure? You’re okay?”

“I’m sure. People saying mean things about me on the Internet, I’m used to. I’m worried about Canada in a couple weeks, but not worried enough to ask you to shut this down. Wait, one more… oh, this one’s Rykov.”

Viktor scoffed. “Who cares what that idiot has to say?”

“He’s going to be in Canada with us. I care so that I see it here, with you available for hugs and kisses, instead of hearing it when I don’t have time to prepare. Better chance of keeping this going if you don't feel the need to come comfort me after Rykov says something.”

Viktor's arms tightened a little. “Good point. What is it?”

Yuuri read it and started laughing. “I got what I needed from you, so I can stop pretending to be in love and show everyone the truth, that I’ve been faking this whole thing as I use you to get to Yakov and you and Yakov to get on podiums. That’s about what I expected.”

“That idiot. I can’t imagine you doing something like that.” Viktor ran his fingers through Yuuri’s hair. "For one thing, you're smart enough to know that if Yakov found out, he'd kick you out. I know he loves you, you're his favorite, but he does not take kindly to people messing with his skaters. Even his other skaters."

 

Misha and Georgi took off for Skate America soon after. Misha won, putting him in the finals with a 1st and 2nd place finish, and Georgi took third. It was unlikely he’d make the finals, with Bin, Misha, and Aaron already in, Masato and Kamil ahead of him despite an abnormally poor showing from Kamil in America, and Viktor, Chris, Kaleb, and Yuuri skating in Canada.

On the plane to Canada, Viktor noticed a lot of people staring at him as Yuuri slept on his shoulder. Good. Let them stare. A few of them “surreptitiously” snapped pictures, and that probably meant a few more had actually done it without being noticed, so after the first one, Viktor checked to make sure Yuuri wasn’t drooling and that he looked halfway decent. Yuuri would be embarrassed either way, but less embarrassed this way. And if Viktor kissed Yuuri’s forehead, well, who could blame him? Yuuri was cute when he was sleepy.

Yuuri woke up shortly before landing, and Viktor whispered to him about the pictures. Yuuri blushed, and Viktor hugged him, not even a little surprised when he saw a cell phone pointed at them before the announcement to shut down electronics for landing.

Chris was waiting when they got to the hotel. Viktor blew off check-in to run over to him, leaving most of his bags with Yakov and Yuuri. He hugged Chris and reached into the bag he’d brought with him. “Don’t tell your coach. Yuuri helped me make them, so I promise, they’re not terrible.” He put a big box of chocolates in Chris’s hands.

Masumi raised his eyebrows. “Should I be jealous? Newly-single Viktor Nikiforov is giving my boyfriend homemade chocolates?”

“Oh, hush, you,” Chris said. “He owes me for the heart attack. That’s all this is.” He looked down at the chocolates and then back at Viktor. “You didn’t forget to tell me I’m supposed to be doing something else, did you?”

“No, this is an apology for forgetting to tell you about things in the first place. Maybe in another universe, you and I could have been something, but here? You’re not Yuuri and I’m not Masumi.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skate Canada Short Program and Rykov Is Still An Asshat

Chris joined Viktor and Yuuri for exploring Kitchener. “One thing I don’t like about Canada – no castles to check for ninjas. Plenty of history – if you like the 1800s,” Viktor said.

Yuuri wrapped an arm around Viktor’s waist. “We’ll find things to do. Don’t worry. Shame the Lion Safari is closed, Yuri would’ve loved pictures from that.” 

They kept busy, enjoying their time exploring the city. When they got back to the hotel, Yuuri checked the Internet to see what people were saying. “Hey, I like this headline. ‘Viktuuri Snatched From the Jaws of Defeat?’ They’ve got a picture of you and me on the plane, and exploring the city today… oh, related articles, ‘What the Heck Is Going on Here?’ Talking about us being cuddly on the plane, but then also... you’re supposedly hitting on Chris? What?”

“In retrospect, the apology chocolates could have waited until we were not in a public area.” Viktor grinned sheepishly. “Masumi was a bit weirded out.”

Yuuri buried his face in his hands. “Oh no. Is he mad at us? Is that why he didn’t come join us for dinner?”

“No, he and Jolanda had a sponsor meeting over dinner. He’s not mad, at least not that Chris has said anything about. He knows it won’t happen. I don’t mess with people’s soulbonds, everyone knows that.”

 

Short program day, Viktor and Yuuri stayed in their room and watched movies until time to go skate. Yuuri stuck as close to Viktor as he thought he could get away with. He was not eager to see Rykov, and with the small field, there wasn’t a good way to avoid him. At least they were skating in different groups – Rykov was in the first group with Chris, Viktor and Yuuri in the second.

Rykov was not scared off by Viktor. Yuuri hadn’t expected him to be. “Hey. I’ve been looking forward to this since June.”

“I’m sure you have.”

“Surprised you ditched the pretense of thinking you’re good enough for Nikiforov. Would’ve thought you’d ride that train as far as it could take you. What happened, realize that marrying him was taking things too far?”

Yuuri forced his hands not to clench too hard. “My relationship with Vitya is none of your business. Go away.”

“I’m curious, did you…”

Viktor growled. “Rykov, you heard Yuuri. None of your business. Given that you’re supposed to be warming up in just a few minutes, I’d think you’d have more important things to do than harass my Yuuri.”

“He’s not your Yuuri anymore, remember?” Rykov blew a kiss at Yuuri. “Wonder who’s next.”

Yuuri shuddered as Rykov strolled away. “That was disturbing. Are you okay?”

“Isn’t that my line? He’s trying to mess with you.”

“Not sure how well I’m going to sleep tonight, but I’m fine for now.”

 

Rykov did reasonably well, scoring in the mid-70s, and Chris did very well, getting up to 79. Viktor pursed his lips as he watched the scores. “The judges are being tough today, it looks like. Don’t be surprised if you score lower than you did in China.”

“Do you think I’ll beat Chris?”

“I don’t know. You can, your programs are close in base value and you’re both good performers. I would expect you to get somewhere around a 79, but whether higher or lower than Chris, it’s hard to say.”

Even that was enough to make Yuuri smile. Two years ago, the idea of beating Chris was laughable, and now Viktor was talking about it like it was a real possibility. His warmup went well. “Rykov leave you alone?”

“No, but I’m much more likely to listen to Vitya than I am to Rykov.”

“Okay. You’re up second, and Vitya’s fifth. Do you want him to walk out with you?”

“It’s up to him, if he’d rather stay back and stretch, that’s fine.”

Viktor decided to walk out. “I haven’t seen Rykov lately. I don’t want him ambushing you on your way out.”

“So protective.” Yuuri kissed Viktor’s cheek before they left the locker room.

Yuuri took the ice with confidence. His confidence built with his successful triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination, and carried him all the way through. Yakov’s usual post-skate lecture didn’t have an easy starting point, and was mostly ways to improve instead of things he’d done poorly. Despite that, and Viktor’s words of caution about the judging, Yuuri couldn’t help being a little disappointed in his 78. He’d skated better here than in China.

Kaleb was immediately after him, and he scored in the mid-70s as well. Yuuri looked around for Rykov when it was Viktor’s turn to skate. He didn’t see him, but Yuuri still decided to go out and watch Viktor’s skate live instead of on the TVs.

Viktor looked good through the two big jumps at the start, but he was still struggling with his flying spin. It was better than it had been in Japan, but with the tougher judges… he recovered well, finishing the program with no more mistakes, but Yuuri’s Russian was good enough to understand exactly what Yakov was saying to Viktor. Yakov wanted him to switch the flying spin with his camel spin later in the program, something Viktor resisted. Even with the mistake, Viktor still scored an 83, giving him a good lead over Chris and Yuuri.

 

The reporters were waiting when they came out. Yuuri and Viktor exchanged glances. They hadn’t really discussed whether they were doing their press separately or together this time. Yuuri quickly decided to step aside and let them talk to Viktor alone.

“So… you two are still close?” one of the reporters asked as soon as Viktor turned to them with the press smile firmly in place.

“Yes, we are. Yuuri’s one of the best friends I could ever have dreamed of, and whatever else happens, I can’t imagine that changing.”

“Would you comment on the rumors that you and Christophe Giacometti might be becoming more than friends?”

“Yes. I would. The gift I gave him was an apology for the way he found out about this. Yuuri rightfully assumed that I would tell my best friend, and I forgot. I’d like to offer an apology to Masumi as well, I’m sure he knows that I would never dream of interfering in his relationship with Chris, but rumors have a way of persisting.”

“So you intend to stay single for the rest of your life?”

“I am not going to interfere in someone else’s soulbond. At least, not intentionally.”

“Are you hoping for a reconciliation with Yuuri, then?”

“I want nothing more than to marry Yuuri and live the rest of my life with him. He gets just as much say as I do, and I don’t want him to do anything out of a sense of guilt or obligation. I want him to be happy.”

“What would you think if he were to date someone else?”

“Well, he’s still not yet seventeen. For all we know, he might have another soulmate. It happens sometimes. How could I possibly object to that?” Yuuri did his best to hide the snickering, just in case there was someone watching him instead of Viktor. He wouldn't be surprised to learn that there was a camera on him for reactions.

The reporters didn’t have much to say to that, so Viktor signaled Yuuri over and excused himself. “Yuuri, you were listening, weren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“What would you say the chances of a reconciliation with Viktor are?”

“It’s hard to say.” The truthful answer was, of course, that there would be no reconciliation because there’s nothing to reconcile, but he couldn’t say that, and he didn’t want to say there was no chance without the explanation.

“Do you feel like you’re leading him on, maintaining your close friendship despite the heartbreak?”

“If Viktor were a different sort of person, maybe, but you heard him just now, and over the years. Soulmates mean a great deal to him, and me shutting him out wouldn’t do any good.”

“There are photographs of the two of you on the plane here, and he’s kissing your head. Were you aware of that?”

“I’ve seen the photos, yes.”

“Do you feel that’s appropriate, given your current relationship status?”

It took every bit of Viktor’s media training and his willpower to keep from laughing. “Absolutely.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Free Skate and fallout.

Yuuri did not normally think of himself as a clingy person, but that was really the only word for how he felt that morning. He was clinging to Viktor, trying to hold back the tears and the bile by holding on to something good for him with everything he had.

Viktor was a little confused when he woke up. “Yuuri…? What’s wrong?”

“Promise me you’ll be careful today, Viktor? Last time I had dreams like this, you ended up getting hurt.”

Viktor pulled Yuuri in even closer. “Anything you want to talk about, or would you just as soon forget them?”

“Rykov would be proud of himself. He finally managed to get to me.” Yuuri sighed and buried his face in Viktor’s shoulder. “Not that I’m ever going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that.”

“Ew. If he does it again today, you can get him back.”

“How?”

Viktor smirked. “Pretend to consider the idea and then say you only like _good_ Russian skaters.”

Yuuri giggled. “That would be funny.”

 

They were both in the second group for the free skate, along with both Rykov and Chris. Chris stayed close to Viktor and Yuuri. Whether that was the cause or not, Rykov kept his distance, for once not trying to talk to Yuuri and mess with his head. Oddly enough, that itself messed with Yuuri’s head. Was it really that obvious that he was still trying to shake off the nightmares?

“Hi, Viktor!”

Viktor turned at the voice. He blinked a couple times. “Oh, um… Florentin, right?”

“That’s right. Florentin Nicu, from Romania.”

“Viktor Nikiforov, although it seems you knew that. Do you know Chris and Yuuri?”

“No. Hi.” Florentin gave them both a half-hearted wave.

“What brings you over here, then? Good luck today, you’re in the final group too, right?”

“Yeah. Been hearing rumors that you’re single…”

“And?”

“And I know you don’t want to mess with someone else’s soulbond, but I don’t have one. Wanna get a drink after the medal ceremony?”

Yuuri’s mouth went dry. He hadn’t thought something like this might happen. What did he do? What would Viktor do? He didn’t think Viktor would take Florentin up on it, but… what if he did, in the name of the prank?

Viktor shook his head. “I haven’t given up on my soulbond yet. Thank you for the offer, it’s very flattering, but I have no interest in anyone but Yuuri.”

Florentin shrugged with a smile. “I somehow thought you’d say that. Thought I’d ask anyway. What could it hurt? Good luck today.”

 

Yuuri did not have a good warmup, to Yakov’s displeasure. “Rykov?”

“No. I didn’t sleep well last night, and I haven’t been able to shake the anxiety today. Rykov left us alone.”

“Hmm. Odd. Vitya?”

“What about him?”

“Is there anything he could do to help?”

“No. Not really. I just have to get through this. I’ll do my best.”

“Okay.”

Rykov did well, his quad helping him put up a score that gave him first, for the moment. Kaleb took it from him quite handily.

At the beginning of his program, Yuuri felt fine. Triple axel good, step sequence, triple toe loop… part of him wished his quad was reliable enough to move up to. Just to show Rykov. Even if he had felt confident in the jump enough to plan it, though, the way he felt he wouldn’t have tried. Then he fell on his triple Lutz. That was okay. He was used to falling. He got back up and did a flying camel spin, but fell again on a triple flip. He was able to stop himself from hitting ice after stumbling out of a combo, but that was more negative points that he no longer had to give.

For a moment, Yuuri thought Yakov might be letting him out of the post-skate lecture. It turned out Yakov was just trying to figure out where to start. Yuuri couldn’t blame him. There were a lot of good places. His score, 138, was not a surprise at all. A disappointment, yes… one that really hurt when he realized that put him two points below Rykov overall. He was in third for now, but Viktor and Chris would both beat him. When he went to the Grand Prix Finals, it would be as a spectator. If Yakov even let him go, after this. Nationals was only a month away, and if he couldn’t put up a better showing, he could count on being a spectator at the Olympics as well.

Chris skated well, taking the lead from Kaleb. At least there was that. Chris would get gold or silver, and as long as Viktor didn’t get hurt, he’d probably get the other one. Viktor hugged Yuuri before heading to the ice. “Don’t worry about this. We’ll talk after the medal ceremony, okay?” Yuuri nodded, and Viktor set out.

From the opening triple flip, it was clear that Viktor would win. At least, it was to Yuuri. Technical aspects aside, this was the best performance he’d ever seen from Viktor. He was not in the least surprised when Viktor finished without a mistake, or when Viktor’s score was very nearly 163 and a personal best. He beat Chris by quite a lot.

 

After the medal ceremony, Yuuri braced himself to go out and deal with reporters. Viktor surprised him, keeping him from leaving the locker room until everyone else had gone. “Let’s end this.”

“What? No!” This wasn't happening. This could not be happening. Maybe there was something to Viktor's theory about his nightmares being prescient...

“No? You’re sure? I feel responsible for some of that skate you had…”

“Why would that make me want to end this?” Yuuri didn't even try to hold back the tears.

Viktor looked incredibly puzzled by the tears as he reached up to brush them away. “So that it never happens again? No one else thinks it’s okay to…”

"OH!" Now Yuuri felt like a complete idiot. “Oh. End the prank.”

“Of course. What else…" Viktor's eyes got huge and he covered his mouth with a hand. "Yuuri, you didn’t think…”

“I’ve had a really long, really bad day after dreams of you leaving me. Last time I had really bad dreams like that, something horrible happened.”

Viktor pulled Yuuri into his arms. “I am not leaving you. Ever. Not unless you make me go.”

Yuuri hugged back. “I know that. Like I said, it’s just been a really bad day. Still, are you sure you want to end this? Next time someone hits on you, I’ll be prepared for it. I was just so shocked.”

“I thought that might have had something to do with it. I never meant for this to interfere with either of our skating. Rykov being Rykov, that I could get over, but Florentin wasn’t doing anything out of malice or an intent to hurt you.”

Yuuri leaned into Viktor, thinking hard. The answer hit him and made him smile. “Not tonight.”

“Hmm?”

“Let’s not end this tonight. I have an idea.” Yuuri stretched up and whispered to Viktor for a bit.

Viktor pulled back and stared at Yuuri for a long time. “You’re sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“Yakov is probably going to kill us.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“You’re _sure_ about this?”

“I’m sure. I was thinking Worlds, but I’ve kind of been thinking along these lines for a while now.”

“Yuuri!” Viktor pulled him back in tight. “Ready to face the press?”

“Not really, but I might as well get it over with.”

 

The reporters greeted him with, “Yuuri, what happened out there?”

“I fell. A lot.”

“Well, yes, but…”

“I'm not injured - well, not beyond some bruises. Nothing that affected my skating tonight or will in the future. This happened in Juniors, too. The first time I got close to making the Finals, I had a bit of a meltdown in the Free Skate in my second qualifier. I came back from that strong, and I plan to do the same here, at Nationals.”

“That’s good to hear. Did having to be around Viktor have anything to do with it? This isn’t the first time you’ve competed, but this field is much smaller than Worlds.”

Hmmm. Tricky to answer without lying. “Even as competitors, Viktor has offered me nothing but support and wishes for the best. The small field, competing against Viktor, had nothing to do with this.”

“Viktor won gold here. Do you plan to kiss his medal?”

“Of course. I see Chris waiting over there, he probably will too.”

“What do you think of the rumors about Viktor and Chris?”

“I think they’re ridiculous. Chris and Masumi are very happy together, and Viktor would never interfere with that.”

A couple boring questions later, Yuuri took off to go stand with Chris. “Where’s Viktor?” Chris asked.

“He’ll be out in just a minute.” Yuuri put his phone away from texting Viktor that he was done.

“Is he going to end this?”

“No. That’s what took us so long getting out of the locker room, though, talking about ending it.”

Chris frowned. “And you decided against it?”

“We decided against it for tonight. There’s a plan.”

Viktor came out and waved to the press. “Hello, everyone!”

“Viktor, you’ve got a couple of friends waiting for you. What took so long getting out of the locker room?”

“My hair got caught in my zipper.”

“Oh no! Is your hair all right?”

Viktor blinked a few times at the level of concern. “It is.”

“Congratulations, that was one of the best skates we’ve ever seen from you.”

“I had some extra emotion to draw on tonight. Watching Yuuri struggle the way he did was heartbreaking.”

“Do you think you had any impact on his skating tonight?”

Viktor didn't answer right away. “Competing against me is not something that’s a problem for him. He wants to win, I want to win, we can’t both win, but we’re happy for whichever of us it is. I hope we’ll have a chance to prove that next year at the Finals.”

“You’re in for a third straight year. How does that feel?”

“I’m a little disappointed that Yuuri didn’t make it with me, but the competitors who did make it will make for a good competition. I’m particularly pleased that Christophe made it, and hope to see him there for many years to come!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think there will be an update tomorrow, so have this abnormally-long update today instead. <3
> 
> *drops off cookies and flees*


	11. Chapter 11

Yakov thought they were crazy for not ending it immediately, and did not take their reassurance that there was a plan and that it would be over before Yuuri had to compete again as much comfort. “Next up is Nationals, and Viktor and I can’t be there for you, Yuuri.”

“I know, but Minako and Yuuko and Takeshi will be, and the backlash would have to be really bad to get to me through them if things go to plan.”

Yakov's scowl deepened. “That’s still not reassuring. Vitya?”

Viktor reached for Yuuri's hand and squeezed it. “Things will go according to plan. The backlash would have to be very strong. It won’t be.”

Phichit shared Yakov’s skepticism, but he was easily reassured. The publicists were let in on the plan, and both of them thought it was probably a good way to end the prank. Yuuko called to offer sympathy, and Mari to ask if she needed to kick any asses.

“Thanks, Mari, but the only ones at fault are me and Viktor for lack of imagination. Something happened that we probably should have realized would, but neither of us thought about.”

“What happened?”

“Someone hit on Viktor in front of me. He didn’t know the truth, so I know it’s not fair to be mad at him for it. It’s gonna take me a while to get to like him, but he doesn’t deserve an enraged sister turned loose on him.”

“All right. If you ever change your mind, I’m here for you.”

 

Yuuri had hoped to have his quad ready for the Grand Prix Finals, but clearly, that wasn’t happening. Since he wasn’t competing. He still worked hard, going through jumps until his feet couldn’t take it anymore, so that he could be ready for Nationals. He needed to prove to the JSF that Skate Canada was the aberration, that he was someone who would represent them well in the Olympics.

Viktor worked hard on the flying spin that was giving him so much trouble. He’d made a deal with Yakov that if he couldn’t get it down in a week, he’d start practicing flipping it with his camel spin. He also worked on the quad flip – he could feel he was getting close, but not close enough. Not yet. Not for the Finals. He should still be able to win. Quad Flip at the Olympics was the goal, and he was sure he could get there.

Yakov offered to let Viktor take Yuuri’s birthday off to celebrate, but Viktor shook his head. “Our flight for Finals leaves the day after. I need the practice.”

“Yuuri?”

Yuuri nodded. “Viktor needs the practice. It’s not like we won’t spend the whole day together anyway.”

They did leave early, with Yakov’s permission, but they came back that evening for some extra practice for the exhibition. By the time Viktor was satisfied with it, it was very late. At least Viktor was already packed, so it wasn't a big deal for him to spend the night with Yuuri at Lilia's.

 

The Finals were in Tokyo, and it didn’t surprise Yuuri a bit to see Yuuko, Takeshi, Mari, and Minako waiting at the airport. Yuuko met him with a big hug. “I wish we were skating today!”

“So do I. Maybe next year. We’re still both going to the Olympics, right?”

Yuuko shrugged. “That’s for the JSF to decide, with me. I hope so. If I can get silver again at Nationals, I think they’ll pick me. My bronze in America should help, right?”

“It should. I’m so proud of you.”

Mari stared down Viktor. “Yuuri tells me there’s a plan. I’m holding off until I see the plan. Got it?”

Viktor didn't even flinch. “Yes, Mari. Your parents have approved of the plan, so it shouldn't be a problem.”

Yuuri whipped his head around to stare at Viktor. “Mom and Dad know? When did you talk to them?”

“Right after we got back from Canada. I didn’t want them mad at me if they didn’t approve. The goal here is for this to be good for you, not put you in a position where your soulmate and your parents are fighting.”

Yuuri nearly tackled Viktor with the hug. “I hadn’t even thought about that.”

Takeshi looked critically at Yuuri. “Are you taller than last time we saw you?”

“I… think I might be, a little? I know I could feel a difference in my costumes between China and Canada. Not much, but enough that I’m keeping an eye on things.”

“Maybe that’s part of why you had so much trouble in Canada?” Takeshi said.

Yuuri considered it, but shook his head. “I don’t think so. I’m not having trouble in practice, so I don’t think I can blame Canada on a growth spurt. I’m not sure I want to, either, that might make the JSF reconsider choosing me for the Olympics. At least pressure-induced meltdowns, they know are a risk because I've always had them.”

“You’re seventeen. Growth spurts are a known risk whether you say it or not,” Viktor said. “Yakov thought they might skip me for Turin because of that, but they decided that my potential was too high to let go to waste.”

“Yeah, well, that was you. You repaid them with a silver medal.”

“And this is you. Your potential is high, and if you can hit that toe loop at Nationals or even just get close, just make sure to get the rotations in, that pushes you even higher. I would be shocked if you got another silver at Nationals and then passed over for the Olympics.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catching up and GPF Short Program

Tokyo was, as competition cities go, familiar to everyone. Viktor didn’t feel too bad about skipping sights to go shopping, and Yuuri’s only objection was that he didn’t want Viktor going overboard shopping for him. Chris laughed at him a bit for it. “You know Viktor can afford it? He’s not going to even notice the missing money?”

“That’s not the point. If he were being irresponsible with money he didn’t have, we’d have had a real fight about it by now.”

Yuuko didn’t understand either. “Then what is the point, Yuuri? It’s not like you’re turning into a spoiled brat, just demanding that Viktor pay for whatever you want. If it makes him happy to buy you nice clothes, leaving you with more money to send home to your parents, what’s the big deal?”

“Mom and Dad sacrificed so much, worked so hard to pay for everything I needed. They never complained, but it had to be hard, especially with Hasetsu declining…”

Takeshi shook his head. “Yu-Topia’s doing better than ever thanks to your parents being able to cash in on their famous son, it’s helping Hasetsu as a whole… you know, when you first took off to Russia, Dad wasn’t sure the Ice Castle would last much longer? Now between you and Yuuko, Dad’s worried that Yuuko and I won’t be able to run it ourselves when she retires from skating and he and mom hand it over to us. People from all over Kyushu are calling to ask about lessons.”

“That’s… still not really the point. I know they’re doing better. It’s more…” Yuuri trailed off, trying to think of how to explain. “It’s like my anxiety. It may be my anxiety. I know perfectly well that I can take silver at Nationals, that if I put forth my absolute best skating I might have a chance at taking gold. That doesn’t stop me from worrying about it, from hearing that voice in my head saying I’m not good enough, I’m not going to make it to the Olympics, look what happened in Canada, why would the JSF pick me. I know that Viktor can afford to buy me expensive stuff whenever he sees something he likes or thinks I would. It doesn’t stop me from feeling guilty about it, because I feel guilty about Mom and Dad having to work so hard for so long. I tried not to ask for anything I didn’t absolutely need, even if it was just a new pencil for school, because skating was so expensive.”

“You have no problem taking money from sponsors,” Chris said.

“That’s different. The sponsors are investing in me, and I’m paying them back by skating well enough to be worth it.”

“And that’s different from Mom and Dad investing in you? You’re paying them back, and not just by giving them your prize money. It’s just delayed a bit.” Yuuri started to protest, but Mari cut him off. “They’re talking about sending me to college. Hiring someone to do my share of the work while I go to classes to learn about business management. You know my test scores were good enough to get in, I just didn’t go because Kokei didn’t want me to.”

“Really? That’s great, Mari!” Yuuri hugged her. “When would you be starting?”

“Depends on if they send me to America or not. They haven’t decided.”

“You don’t get any say in where you go to school?”

“I’ve been out of high school for five years. Getting into a Japanese school might be a problem. Might be easier to go to America. That is my say, Mom and Dad just need to figure out if we can actually do it.”

 

The next day was also practice for senior men, but Chris wanted to watch Masumi and Jolanda in the ice dance, and Yuuri wanted to watch the Junior Men. He hadn’t even really paid attention to who’d made it, but chances were good it was someone he’d skated against. As it happened, Michele Crispino had made it. Yuuri checked, and sure enough, Sara had made the Junior Ladies final as well.

Michele was in second by less than a point after the short program. Yuuri caught up with him during the pairs competition. “Congratulations! You did well.”

“Yuuri!” Michele jumped a little. “I thought you hadn’t made it.”

“I didn’t, but Viktor did.”

“I saw that, but… you two broke up.”

Yuuri blinked. “No we didn’t. You didn’t… Mila didn’t tell Sara?”

“Mila told Sara not to believe anything in the press, but…”

“Viktor and I are still together. The press has so much fun pulling bullshit out of their asses to mess with Viktor and me, we thought we’d see what would happen if we tossed them some.”

Michele stared at him. “You’re joking.”

“Nope.”

“Sara will be so happy. She was right all along.”

“Of course she was. Sisters always are, didn’t you know that?”

Michele finally cracked a smile. “They think so, anyway.”

 

The junior men’s skate was the first event the next day, and Michele won the gold. Yuuri was quick to congratulate him. “Want me to kiss the medal?”

“No, thanks. I’d rather not get dragged into your crazy media problems.”

“Fair enough.”

Michele and Sara joined Yuuri to watch the men’s skate. Kamil was up first, and he did much better than he had at Skate America. Chris did well, scoring close to Kamil. Aaron took the lead. Misha and Viktor walked out together. “Last time skating this where people will believe it, Viktor. Nervous?” Misha teased.

Viktor shook his head. “Not at all. You should be though!”

“Nah. Good luck.”

“Same.”

Misha took the ice first, skating a very good program and putting up a huge score of 88. Viktor stepped out. When the music started, Viktor took off. Triple axel, quad salchow, so far so good. He nailed the flying entry into his spin, and from there, he could feel the smile trying to come out. He was good enough to keep it down, though. When he started his last step sequence, he knew he was going to win, which helped him perform it better than he ever had.

He completely tuned Yakov out while he waited for the score. 90. No one had done that yet this season. He didn’t quite make it to the world record, but he was very close. No one could blame Viktor for the shout of joy, not even Yakov.

The press caught up with him before Yuuri did, which was probably a good thing. “How do you feel about your score?”

“A bit disappointed.” Viktor winked at the surprised faces. “If only I had done four tenths better! Ah well, inspiration for tomorrow’s free skate.”

“What were you thinking about out there?”

“Yuuri, of course. I liked Canada where he was there with me instead of watching from the stands, and I was heartbroken he didn’t make it this year. But there’s always next year!”


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Free Skate!

They stayed late for Masumi’s free dance, where he and Jolanda came in fifth. “Could’ve been worse. Viktor, you know Anya and Christov, don’t you? What happened to them this year?”

“Anya didn’t want anyone to know and make her and Christov withdraw from the competition, but she was fighting the flu in America. She ended up in the hospital with dehydration and exhaustion and her coach threatened to fire her if she ever pulled something like that again.”

“Ooh. That’s rough.”

“Georgi was so upset. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him cry like that,” Yuuri said.

Viktor smirked. “You didn’t see him in the weeks leading up to our birthdays. He was a mess. Yakov was not helping, either, constantly threatening both of us if we didn’t keep our heads on the ice where they belonged. He was still new, he didn’t know Yakov very well, so Georgi took him seriously. Anyway, Anya's recovered well, Christov's done with dropping her 'accidentally' in revenge, so you'll see them at Europeans and the Olympics most likely.”

 

Sara’s short program was the next day, and Yuuri went to watch while Viktor took a nap. She started out well, but struggled with her jumps. “Michele? She’s better than that, usually.”

“I don’t know. She wouldn’t tell me what was wrong, but she spent most of the morning curled up in bed crying and eating chocolate she wasn’t supposed to have.” Michele’s voice shook a little. “She’s always told me everything before…”

“Oh no! I hope it’s nothing serious! Have you talked to your coach?”

“Yes, and she said not to worry about it, it’s perfectly normal, just horrible timing for Sara. She also said not to bother Sara about it.”

“Well, if your coach knows what’s going on, then it’s probably nothing to worry about. I'm sure she knows what she’s doing…” Yuuri wasn't convinced of that, but Michele probably needed to hear it. 

 

Misha helped Viktor with his hair. “Hey, Misha?”

“Yes?”

“If you were thinking about a haircut, would you talk to Emiliya about it first?”

“I assume we’re talking about more than a maintenance trim here. If I were going to do something drastic like grow it out like yours or shave it off or start actually trying to make it look tidy? Yes. Yes, I would.”

“Why?”

“Because… you know, that’s a good question. It’s not about getting her permission or anything, it’s more… courtesy, you know? Maybe? Are you thinking about cutting your hair?”

“Kind of.”

“Definitely talk to Yuuri. I know you love your surprises and all and unless you go completely shaved the color’s distinctive enough he’ll probably recognize you right away, but you’ve had that long hair as long as he’s known of you. He could use the warning before you go making a huge change like that.”

“Hmm.” Viktor had not thought of it like that. He still wasn’t sure he even wanted to cut his hair, but he didn’t want to feel like he was keeping it the way it was for someone else, even for Yuuri. On the other hand, what was the worst that happened if he talked to Yuuri? Yuuri didn’t like the idea, Viktor did it anyway, and Yuuri was somewhat upset for a bit.

“Is now really the time to be thinking about it? We’re skating soon.”

Viktor shrugged. “I can't help it. Now’s when it’s most annoying, when I have to deal with it to get ready for skating. You know I'll have forgotten I had a question after I have a gold medal around my neck.”

"Maybe silver won't make you so forgetful? I'll just have to clean the ice with you." Misha winked and wandered off to start stretching.

 

Chris skated first, and he put on a good show, but he looked a little nervous. Kamil did just enough better to take over. Bin, who had struggled in the short program, continued looking not quite like himself. He took the lead, but the score was low and the door was wide open for the three remaining skaters to be the medalists. Aaron delivered, and Misha went out and scored a personal best, quite possibly the skate of his life. Even he and Yakov stared in shock at the score – 167 was huge.

Viktor couldn’t let that throw him, though, not when he had to skate. He briefly considered trying the quad flip – sure, he’d only landed it a few times in practice, but he’d always been one to rise to the occasion, and this was one of the biggest occasions of the season. A quick glance at Yuuri convinced him not to try. It would either work or go spectacularly wrong. Instead, he focused on doing his best with his normal program in the hopes that it would be enough.

It wasn’t. His 163 gave him an overall score of 253, not enough to beat Misha’s 255. When Viktor saw it, he jumped up to throw his arms around Misha. “Congratulations! You are going to let me and Yuuri kiss it, aren’t you?”

“Of course. Chris, too, if he wants. I hope he’s not too down on himself for finishing last – he’ll have plenty of time to get up on the podium with us.”

As soon as the medal was around his neck, Misha turned to Viktor so Viktor could kiss it. They kept their arms around each other as the Russian anthem played, and posed for pictures with Aaron and their medals.

At the press conference, the reporters focused on Misha. Their first question to Viktor, even, was about him. “You and Misha have been competing against each other for a while, but this is the first time in a while he’s beaten you.”

“Yes, I tease him all the time about getting old. I’m glad to know that he’s still capable of beating me. That was a beautiful skate today, and I feel privileged for getting to see it from the best imaginable viewpoint.”

“Your own skate was a personal best as well. Do you feel threatened?”

“Not at all! That’s how a good rivalry goes – one day Misha comes out on top, one day I do. Sometimes we get streaks, but I can say that even with my recent streak of victories, I was never able to count on getting the next one. It makes us both push ourselves harder, constantly testing our limits, and the fans get the benefit of it. Cao Bin as well – I tend to focus on Misha because he’s like a brother to me and I see him every day and compete against him more often, but Bin is right in there with us when it comes to the competition for the gold.”


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exhibition skate and the end of the prank.

Sara failed to medal in the junior ladies’ division, but she at least looked much better than she had the day before. The day of the exhibition, Viktor snuck Yuuri into the locker room with him, Misha helping to provide cover as soon as he spotted Yuuri, even though Misha had no idea what was going on either.

“Viktor?”

“Yes, Misha?”

“Am I going to even want to try skating after whatever it is you have up your sleeve?”

Viktor thought for a second. “No, probably not.”

“Okay. I’m stealing your spot then. You skate after me. I’ll tell the officials you had some kind of emergency with your skates and we’re flipping.”

Viktor grinned and hugged Misha. “Thank you!”

“You owe me. Just remember that.”

“I will.”

 

Nobody questioned Misha’s story, at least in a way he couldn’t handle, and he skated his exhibition skate to great applause. Yakov caught Viktor and Yuuri as they were walking out. “What’s wrong with your skates, Vitya?”

“Nothing. My skates are fine. Misha just didn’t want to skate after me.”

Yakov facepalmed. “Which means you have something planned. Were you going to tell me?”

“I didn’t tell Misha. He figured it out when he saw Yuuri – and he’s the one who offered to switch, I didn’t ask him.”

“How dead are you after this?”

“I hope not at all!” Viktor smiled, his face the perfect picture of innocence. Beside him, he could see Yuuri facepalm. “Okay, maybe a little, but you should like this.”

Viktor took the ice alone, wearing the costume he wore for his usual exhibition skate. As soon as the music started, though, it became obvious he was doing something different. Instead of the usual music, it was “Across the Stars”. As soon as the first wave of screams started to die down, Yuuri skated out to him, which caused more screaming. They hadn’t really practiced much, they were just kind of goofing around until they came to a stop at center ice.

There was some confusion – the song was still going, they still had time, so why stop? Then Viktor took Yuuri’s right hand and slid a ring on it, and Yuuri did the same to Viktor. They clasped hands and held them up for everyone to see as their final pose.

Misha met them as they stepped off the ice. “You’re right, I do not want to try to go skate after that. Prank over?”

“Prank over.”

Misha shook his head with a big grin. “You idiots.” He hugged them both. “Your adoring press conference awaits. Have fun.”

 

Yakov caught them first. "Yuuri..."

"This was my idea, Yakov. Please don't kill Viktor."

"All right. Both of you are idiots who are going to give me a heart attack someday, then."

 

Viktor didn’t even try for subtle. As soon as they found a place to face the cameras, Viktor stood behind Yuuri with his arms around his soulmate. Yuuri had his arms up holding on to Viktor’s, making sure both of their rings were clearly visible.

“Did you guys serious just get engaged after having been broken up for months?”

“No. Yuuri and I never broke up.” Viktor winked. “As some of our fans were very clear to point out, neither of us ever said that. We said we weren’t what the media made us out to be. At the time, nearly everyone insisted that we were either faking the whole thing – we weren’t, we never were, since the day I flew out to Japan to introduce myself Yuuri and I have always been honest with each other about what we wanted to be to each other – or that we were engaged. We weren’t. It was very frustrating, nobody accepting that we were not formally engaged.”

“If you didn’t break up, why heartbreak as your theme?”

“Oh, a few reasons. You all know how much I love surprising people! What better way to surprise people than this?” Viktor winked. “Also, Yakov wouldn’t let me skate my first idea.”

“What was your first idea?”

“Cats.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes! Wouldn’t that be fun?”

No one seemed to know what to say to that. “Yuuri, clearly you were in on the plan. Was this always the intent?”

“Depends who you ask! I’d meant for us to do this at Worlds, but the first Viktor heard of the idea was at Skate Canada when we were talking about coming clean early and I suggested we do this here.”

Viktor gasped. “You didn’t tell me that this was the plan all along!”

“Well we weren’t going to make it to Worlds, so why mention that?”

“It would have been nice to have the reassurance that you didn’t feel like we had to do something huge like this because of what happened in Canada.”

“What happened in Canada?” the reporters asked before Yuuri could respond.

“I’m sure you’re all aware that my Free Skate was rather terrible. People assuming Viktor and I had broken up was bothering me more than I thought it would, and Viktor felt terrible about it. He wanted to clear things up that night, but I suggested this instead.” Yuuri looked up at Viktor. “You never wondered why I had such a clear plan ready to go despite everything else on my mind that day?”

“You…” Viktor started laughing. In retrospect, yes, that was very weird. “I was rather distracted by worrying about how badly this was affecting you.”

"I'm sorry. I forget sometimes that you need reassurance too."

“So… are the two of you engaged now, or was that performance?”

“Yes. We are engaged, but the skate was just our way of announcing it. Viktor couldn’t resist the temptation to surprise me and asked me last night.”

“Did anyone else know about this?”

“We’d warned our rinkmates, friends, and family – or meant to, _Viktor_.”

Viktor laughed. He noticed someone watching them and waved to him. “Once again, Chris, I am so sorry.” Chris stuck out his tongue.

Yuuri stifled the giggle and finished answering the question. “About the rumors that might be coming out about us after Viktor’s first skate of the year. Nobody knew about the engagement.”

“Except for Yuuri’s parents, who I called after we decided to do this to ask for permission. Thankfully, they thought it sounded like a wonderful idea.”

“Is there anything you’d like to say to your fans?”

“Absolutely. We love you all, and we are very proud so many of you caught on to the hints we left and the lack of a straight declaration. Those of you who didn’t catch on, we completely understand if you are upset with us, and hope that you can enjoy the absurdity looking back.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No, seriously, who's the idiot who decided that Japan and Russia would hold their National Championships at the same bloody time? Viktor and Yuuri would like to have words with that person.

As expected, there was some backlash from fans who felt duped or reporters who felt like Viktor and Yuuri had gotten one over on them. The Hamsters were a big help with the former, and the latter really didn’t worry Viktor and Yuuri. There were enough friendly reporters – and a couple reporters who appreciated the joke and took the point with good humor.

Friends and family were all supportive. Chris thought it was hilarious, especially the public callout on Viktor for forgetting him. Yuuko and Takeshi couldn’t stop squealing. “You know, I have to say. If you’d told me three years ago that you’d be engaged younger than I was, I’d either have laughed in your face or assumed you were my soulmate. Your mom isn't crazy,” Yuuko told him.

“Do you wish you’d waited?” Yuuko seemed happy enough, sure, and so did Takeshi, but...

“No. Not at all.” Takeshi hugged Yuuko for her answer. “For me, this was definitely right. For you and Viktor, it seems right. I just wouldn’t have expected it before we knew who our soulmates were!”

 

Back in Russia, Viktor and Yuuri had to shut down and really focus hard – Nationals were coming up, and both felt like they had something to prove. Viktor couldn’t slack off after losing to Misha, and Yuuri needed to prove to the JSF that he could handle himself and represent Japan better than other potential skaters.

Yakov was good about keeping the reporters away from them, although he took it out on them in practice. Neither of them were going to complain, though. At least, not where Yakov could hear them. Lilia wasn’t taking it any easier on Yuuri, especially after he tried on his costumes after returning from the Grand Prix and realized there was no way he could skate in them without alterations. Growth spurts sucked, Yuuri decided. Although at least he wouldn’t look as tiny compared to Viktor.

Yuri spent the entire time leading up to Nationals alternating between clinging to one of Viktor or Yuuri, or declaring them both idiots and refusing to deal with them. There’d been little word from Irina – a few short phone calls since she left in May.

When it came time for Yuuri to leave, Yuri refused to go to the airport with him. Russian Nationals would be in St. Petersburg, with Viktor leaving as soon as he could after the exhibition skate to join Yuuri in Hasetsu for the New Year. Viktor and Yakov were the only ones to go. “Take good care of the dogs. I’m going to miss them.”

“You’re going to miss the dogs?” Viktor pouted at him.

“They’re good dogs." Viktor pouted harder, and Yuuri laughed and hugged him. "At least they get to be together.”

“Unlike us.”

“Stupid Nationals anyway.”

“They’re not stupid if you want to do any more competitions this season,” Yakov grumbled.

“Sorry, Yakov.”

“But you have to admit the timing is terrible!” Viktor winked at Yakov. “You want to be in Japan with Yuuri as much as I do, and you know it.”

Yakov scoffed, but he didn't try to deny it. “I do feel bad about never getting to be there with my skater at Nationals. At least you have Minako.”

 

In Osaka, Yuuri found himself in an unusual position. He felt fine. Yuuko was having a bit of a breakdown. Takeshi was trying, but Yuuko wasn’t listening to him, so he called Yuuri. "I'm sorry. If you don't want to be here, because it'll probably get into your head too..."

Yuuri shook his head. It probably would get into his head, but he could call Viktor, and he was used to this. Yuuko had stood beside him and helped him through so many breakdowns. What kind of friend would he be if he couldn't do the same for her? “What’s wrong, Yuuko?”

“It’s the Olympics, Yuuri. The Olympics. Those are huge, and figure skating is their big thing. Everyone watches it. If I go and fail, the entire world will be watching me let down my country.”

“You did good at Four Continents last year, and in the Grand Prix, Yuuko. You’ll do fine! You know whether I make it or not, I’ll be there, because Viktor will. You’re not going to be alone. You and Tamae are friends, aren’t you?”

“Yes… Iona, too. If it’s the three of us… and with you there, and Viktor, and Chris…" Yuuko trailed off and shook her head. "It’s still terrifying.”

“Trust me, I know. You know what the worst part of making the Olympics is going to be?”

“What?”

“I won’t get to watch Viktor in the parade. The media’s already marked him as a clear favorite to carry the flag for Russia.”

Yuuko giggled. “And you’ll be marching with Japan. Any chance of you carrying our flag?”

“I… don’t know. If they want a men's singles figure skater, Masato would be the better choice, he’ll beat me, wouldn’t they want the champion?”

“You’d think, but you’re the media favorite. If Russia does pick Viktor, and Japan picks you, can’t you just see the internet exploding already?”

Yuuri blushed. Hard. This had not occurred to him. “They’re probably going to talk about us a lot, aren’t they. Make us come in for all kinds of interviews.”

“Even without you and Viktor being you and Viktor, how often do you think they get to run with the story of an engaged couple who are directly competing against each other in the Olympics?” Takeshi said.

Well. At least Yuuko was feeling better now.

 

Viktor was very happy when Yuuri called. “We miss you!”

“I miss you. Could’ve used you earlier, Yuuko’s been hanging around me too long.”

“Is she okay? Takeshi is taking good care of her?”

“She’s fine, but now I’m a little freaked out. Olympics. Me?”

“You. You’ll get there, and you will be fine, because Yakov and Lilia and I won’t let you be anything else. Okay?”

“Okay. Okay, I can… okay. Gotta get there first, and they’re not going to make it easy on me. Never know when some upstart will come out of Juniors and beat everyone.”

“At least this year there’s no talk of you not belonging in the competition. How are you feeling about the quad? With the growth spurt…”

“I’m going to try it in practice tomorrow. The last few days I’ve been okay, a little bit better balanced, so if I can do it in practice tomorrow, I’ll go for it in the competition. Maybe it will help reassure Japan that I’m the right choice.”

“Certainly can’t hurt. Good luck!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lack of update yesterday - I had an early morning doctor's appointment which I didn't think was going to screw with me nearly as much as it did.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nationals - short programs. Guess who's back?

The short program in Russia was on the 24th. Viktor hadn’t even thought of the fact that he would have to deal with Rykov there. Rykov who was now strutting around saying that moving up to seniors had been the right call, after all he’d beat Yuuri, Yuuri was up there with Viktor and Misha, he was going to steal one of the Olympic spots and keep Yakov from having to corral four skaters at the Olympics and Worlds. Not that Yuuri was likely to make it, did you see the way he imploded when the pressure was on?

Misha and Georgi had to hold Viktor back when he heard that charming sentiment. “Save it for the ice. The three of us are going to humiliate that boy. So he can squeak past Yuuri when Yuuri’s in a meltdown. Yuuri’s not here to defend himself, but we are here to do it for him, and we will show that twit what it means to skate for Yakov Feltsman,” Misha promised.

Viktor was still seething as he stretched. Yakov noticed. “If you need inspiration now that you’re engaged, there you go. Imagine how you’ll feel if you let Valery Rykov get to the Olympics.”

“Do you really think they’d choose him over Georgi?”

“When they ask me in interviews, I’m going to do the expected thing and say that whatever decision is made, I will support. Between us, though? Taking an unproven senior debut is rarely a good idea.”

Viktor stared at Yakov. Did he not think Yuuri should go? “But…”

“I said unproven. Yuuri’s got a much more impressive resume. Winning Junior Worlds and the Junior Grand Prix, bronze at Four Continents, a silver at Nationals and two consecutive golds at Junior Nationals? If he medals again this year, the JSF would be fools not to put him on their team. Just like the RSF would have been fools not to put you on their team four years ago. What’s Rykov got but a big mouth and a narrow win over a rival having one of his worst skates?”

 

Georgi skated first of Yakov’s skaters, starting off the second group, and there was a fire in him Viktor had never seen before. He crushed the scores of everyone in the first group, setting the bar high for anyone else with an 83. Viktor wasn’t worried, he and Misha could beat that easily enough, but Rykov would have trouble.

Misha was first in the third and final group. His 84 beat Georgi, but not by much. Then it was Sobolevsky, and then Rykov. Rykov didn’t show any fear, but he had to know it wasn’t going to be good enough to beat Georgi or Misha. He didn’t even crack 80. Good.

Viktor took the ice with determination. He got himself in character – Yakov’s suggestion for inspiration had been a good one. He would be devastated if Rykov made the Olympics, especially if somehow, Yuuri didn’t. It wasn’t a scenario he believed possible, but neither was breaking up with Yuuri, and he’d been using that to great effect all season. He started off with the two huge jumps, nailing the triple axel beautifully, and then the flying sit spin he’d struggled with in the early part of the season went better than it ever had. He kept going, hitting everything well, and came to a stop very curious to see his overall score.

Yakov talked. Viktor ignored. His score came up – three-tenths higher than it had been at the Finals. Not quite enough, but closer. Yakov hugged him. “You’ll get it in the Olympics, if you don’t at Europeans.”

Viktor headed out very clearly on top, followed by Misha, Georgi, and Rykov. Reporters caught him quickly. “You’re so close to a world record! How do you feel about that?”

“I feel good. I’ll be working hard over the next few weeks. I have three more chances to win that record, so I’m confident I can get it.”

“Are you sure you’ll be picked for all three teams? With the Olympics, do you think they’ll try to spread the spots out?”

“It’s possible. It’s possible that there could be injuries or off-ice considerations that keep me from going to one or more, even without the selection process getting involved.”

“Do you expect your rinkmates to be your teammates?”

“Considering they’re currently in second and third, and were my teammates for Europeans and Worlds last year, I think there’s a good chance.”

“What about Rykov? He’s in fourth, well within striking distance.”

Viktor held back the sigh and made sure the smile stayed plastered to his face. “It’s not my opinion that matters. Rykov is a good skater and if they choose him to represent Russia, I would expect to see him represent up to the standards that Russian skaters have maintained for years.”

“Would you be able to truly see him as a teammate?”

“Yes. I would.” Not a friend or a rinkmate, but you don’t have to like someone to share a team with them. Not in figure skating. It wasn’t like gymnastics where the main event was a team thing. It was all individual.

“How do you think Yuuri would feel about Rykov being on your team?”

“Considering that Misha, Georgi, and I are all his rinkmates, he might find it nice to have one Russian who he won’t have that complicated relationship with when it comes to defeating him.”

 

Yuuri didn’t skate until the 25th, which gave him a chance to watch the Russian skaters and hear Viktor’s comments. It was good for a laugh, and he was very proud of Viktor’s skate. Minako shook her head as she watched Rykov’s skate. “When I was at the Bolshoi, there was this dancer, Ksenia, who absolutely hated me. For no better reason than Rykov hates you.”

“What happened?”

“I left to come back to Japan. As far as I know she still hates me.” Minako patted Yuuri’s shoulder. “How do you feel about your short program today?”

“Short programs are easy. I think I’ll be fine.”

“Good to hear.”

Yuuri had drawn into the third group of five, right in the middle. At least it wasn’t first. There had been some scores in the high 60s and one 74, but nothing Yuuri couldn’t beat handily yet. He got off to something of a slow start, but when he got to his first step sequence, he nailed it beautifully. From there to the end, he felt great.

Minako agreed, but Yuuri started on the critique in his head. After all, he wasn’t going to be anywhere close to Viktor’s score. He was very close to 84, though, which put him in the mix with Misha and Georgi. That was something he could be proud of. Even with Masato defeating him, getting in the high 80s, Yuuri was happy with what he’d done that day.

The reporters were waiting for him. “Did skating this program feel different after your exhibition with Viktor to this music?”

“A little, yes. I don’t think I’ll ever listen to this music without smiling ever again. Thankfully that’s certainly the appropriate expression for the routine.”

That got a laugh. “What do you have to say to people who think seventeen is too young to be engaged?”

“It’s not like I’m guessing. Viktor is my soulmate. We love each other, we’re happy together, why not? That doesn’t mean I encourage everyone to do it, but for Viktor and me, it works. Also, please, go talk to one of my mother’s friends. She thinks I’m a terrible soulmate because I didn’t marry Viktor three years ago.”

“Do you have anything you want to say to Viktor?”

“Happy birthday, and good luck tomorrow.” And quite a bit more, of course, but some things did not belong in a public statement.

“Did you hear what he said about teaming up with Rykov?”

“I did. It’s exactly what I would expect of him.”

“You don’t feel like it’s a betrayal?”

“Rykov skates for Russia, as does Viktor. I skate for Japan. It’s not like a school gym class where you pick your dodgeball team. What is Viktor supposed to do? Throw a tantrum? Refuse to skate? He’s not four years old.”


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Free Skates and the press goes STUPID.

Both free skates were on the 26th. Thanks to the time zone differences, Yuuri would skate first. Yuuko’s short program was before the men’s free skate, and Yuuko’s beautiful skate put her in first place going into the free skate. She couldn’t believe that she was ahead of Tamae, who had been the dominant skater in Japan for years. “I don’t expect to hold on tomorrow, her program has a much higher base value, but just to be here? I don’t know what to say.”

“I do. Congratulations, that definitely helps your case with the ISU for getting to come to the Olympics!” Yuuri hugged her.

“I know. I’m still scared, but I hope I get to go.”

Yuuri left then to get dressed for his Free Skate. He had to wonder – if someone had come to Yuuko when she was younger and gotten her world-class coaching, where would she be now? Yuuri couldn’t imagine himself being in contention for the Olympics without Yakov’s coaching and Viktor’s support. What made him so special, that he got to be the one to get out of Hasetsu?

He couldn’t change the past or the way the world was. All he could do was keep trying to prove he was worthy of it. That was the goal today. Silver medal, quad toe loop, and making it hard for the JSF to justify leaving him off the national team.

 

He was next to last. The third-place skater had a total of 244, which meant Yuuri needed to beat 160 to get his silver medal. He hadn’t done that yet, but he also hadn’t tried a quad yet. As hard as he’d been working since the disaster in Canada, he thought he could do it.

He started strong, channeling his nerves and his need to prove himself into a monster of a triple axel. There was a step sequence between that and the quad, which gave him a chance to calm himself down and mentally prepare. He could do the step sequence in his sleep. Time to jump – he had the rotations, but he put a hand down on the landing. That was all right. He’d landed a quad in competition. He had no trouble through the next few elements, and he had another huge triple axel in a combination. When he finished his routine, he couldn’t believe it. Aside from the hand down on the quad, there hadn’t been any big mistakes, and there had been several things he’d done very well.

It still took him by surprise when his score came up at 168. That put him not just in the lead, but ahead by quite a bit. Masato wouldn’t have trouble beating him, Yuuri was sure, not with a four point lead from the day before and a stronger base value. He was right – Masato took the gold, with a free skate score three-tenths lower than Yuuri’s.

Silver, for the second year in a row. Quad toe loop, check. Now it was just sit back and wait for the team to be announced. Yuuko and Takeshi both had big hugs for Yuuri and a kiss for the medal. The press… well. They weren’t completely awful.

“Do you feel like you deserve a spot in the Olympics?”

“If the JSF chooses me to represent Japan in the Olympics, I would be honored, but it’s their choice.”

“But you’re the national silver medalist, and one of the people who earned Japan three slots.”

“Facts I’m sure the committee is aware of, and will take into account. I feel like my resume is strong, but I’ll accept whatever decision is made.”

“Given the likelihood that your coach will also be coaching at least two of the Russian entries, do you think he might be tempted to treat you differently?”

Yuuri’s face darkened. “I’m sorry, I must not be understanding the question. It sounded like you just accused Yakov Feltsman of not treating me as an equal to his skaters because I’m not Russian. While it’s true that he would not normally take on a foreign skater, Yakov has never treated me any differently in training or in competition because of that.”

“He’s not here.”

“Three skaters against one, when the one has a substitute he’s comfortable with and who has never hesitated to say yes when I ask if she’ll stand in for him.”

“So you don’t think…”

“Yakov Feltsman is a professional. He is a good coach, and a good man. When he agreed to take me on, he meant that completely. I am not in the least concerned that he would do anything but his best for me at the Olympics.” Yuuri walked away, ignoring any questions shouted after him as he headed for a taxi to the hotel.

 

Viktor called as Yuuri was getting out of the taxi. “You made Yakov cry.”

“What?”

“Not much. Just a tear or two. I wish I could be there to hug you. I can’t believe they’d even consider Yakov playing favorites.”

“Is Yakov mad at me?”

“No. Not at all. Yakov is extremely proud of you. He hopes to see you skate like that in person at the Olympics. That was amazing, Yuuri! I want to see that skate live at the Olympics too!”

“Good luck. Tell Misha and Georgi, since I walked out on the press before I could say it on camera.”

“So proud of you for that! I’d have done it, too. Hang on, here’s Yakov.”

Yakov’s voice sounded gruffer than usual. “You did well, Yuuri. You made me really work for this.” He went through some things for Yuuri to work on.

“Thanks, Yakov. I’m sorry about walking out on the reporters.”

“Don’t be. That was exactly what you should have done. Losing your temper and going off on them wouldn’t have helped anything and could be used against you.”

 

Yakov’s skaters were the last three to skate. Rykov had to go just before them. Viktor couldn’t help himself. “Misha, did you see Yuuri’s score? 168. What was it you got in the Finals? 167?”

Misha looked momentarily confused before he noticed Rykov listening. “167. Yuuri deserved that, though, his skating was beautiful. We’d better step up our game before the Olympics.”

When Rykov walked out, Misha smacked Viktor’s shoulder. “That was mean.”

Viktor blinked and put on an innocent face. “I just wanted to brag about my Yuuri! How is that mean?”

Misha just shook his head and didn’t answer, choosing instead to watch Rykov until it was time to walk out with Georgi. Viktor did, too. Rykov did well, hitting his jumps perfectly and not screwing up too badly, which gave him the lead.

Misha and Viktor both walked out with Georgi. It seemed right. Georgi took the ice and put forth a beautiful skate. Technically, less difficult than Rykov’s had been, but nobody in Russia got presentation scores like Georgi did. Georgi took the lead. Misha took it from him with another 167, leaving Rykov in third when it was Viktor’s turn to skate.

Viktor was badly tempted to toss out the quad flip, but he wasn’t ready. Besides, Yakov would kill him. He skated, and with something to prove, he skated well. It wasn’t like Yuuri, skating better than he’d ever skated before, but it was solid, and it was good. When they put up the 169, Viktor was nearly tackled by Misha and Georgi in their enthusiasm.

Once again, a clean sweep at Nationals for Yakov’s skaters. All that was left was waiting for the official team announcements.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The teams are selected. Medals are kissed.

The Russian team was announced first. Viktor was the only one assigned to Europeans, the Olympics, and Worlds. Misha got the Olympics and Worlds, Georgi Europeans and the Olympics, Rykov Worlds, and fifth-place finisher Yulian Sobolevsky Europeans. Yakov shrugged. “I’m not surprised. They like to spread it around a bit. Viktor, if you want to withdraw from Europeans or Worlds, I don’t think anyone would be surprised.”

“I’m not. Unless Misha wants the spot.”

Misha shook his head. “You beat me, you earned it. Besides, you have a gold medal to defend.”

“Easier to defend without you.”

“True! No me, no Yuuri, no Cao Bin… no excuses.” Misha looked past Viktor and groaned. “Get ready. Here come the vultures.”

Viktor pasted on the media smile and turned around. “Viktor! Congratulations on your selection!”

“Thank you!”

“Are you happy with the selection committee’s choices?”

“I’m a little disappointed that Misha and Georgi are both missing events, but Rykov and Yulian will get a chance to represent Russia on a larger stage, so there’s good to come out of it. I’d also like to congratulate Georgi on his first Olympics, we’re going to have so much fun in Vancouver.”

“Do you think Yuuri will be chosen?”

“I don’t see any way the JSF watches his free skate and doesn’t select him for at a minimum two of the Olympics, Four Continents, and Worlds. If they see something I don’t, though, that’s their call, of course.”

 

After the ladies’ free skate, Yuuko stared at the gold medal around her neck in disbelief. Tamae had struggled a bit, just enough that Yuuko was able to place above her. Takeshi hadn’t stopped hugging her since she found him after getting changed, except for a brief pause to let Yuuri hug her and kiss the medal. “Viktor’s going to want to kiss it too, when he gets to Hasetsu.”

“I know.” Yuuko picked it up to stare at it from a different angle, just to make sure. “This is a surprise. I wonder what happened to Tamae-senpai?”

“Bad timing with a cold.” They looked up to see Tamae there. “Congratulations, Yuuko-chan. Gold suits you.”

“Thank you!”

“They’re still going to pick me for the Olympics, I’m pretty sure, but this guarantees that you get to go too. I’m so happy for you!”

Yuuko dropped her medal and reached out to hug Tamae. “They’d better still pick you, you’re still the best Japan has!”

Tamae hugged back. “I’m thinking of retiring after this… not because I lost here, just because I’m almost twenty-five. My husband’s starting to get a little impatient for children, and it seems like a good time to go out.”

Takeshi frowned and put his arms back around Yuuko. “Why’s he getting impatient? You have a lot longer to have kids than you do to skate.”

Tamae shrugged. “Well, he’s ten years older than me, so he doesn’t want to be too old when our children are born. It’s okay, really. I don’t have that much longer before I can’t keep up with Yuuko and the other rising stars, and if I can go out on top, I think I’d rather do that than fade out.”

 

Japan’s team selection wasn’t a surprise. Masato and Yuuri were assigned to Four Continents, the Olympics and Worlds, as were Yuuko and Tamae. The trip to Hasetsu was full of much squealing and joy, and it only intensified when they got to Fukuoka. Viktor was waiting for them there, and Yuuri flew into his arms.

“Sorry about Worlds. We tried,” Viktor said when he and Yuuri finally pulled back from each other.

“That’s okay, you and Misha and Yuuko and Chris will be there. The three of you did your best, you can’t control the selections.”

“I know." Viktor growled playfully. "Where’s your medal?”

“Huh? It’s not gold…” Still, Yuuri set down his bag and started digging through it. "Where's yours?"

“But what would it look like, me kissing Yuuko’s medal and not yours? The dragon is too strong to go with the solution of not kissing Yuuko’s medal, so that means I have to kiss yours!" Viktor winked. "Logic.”

Yuuko giggled and produced her gold medal for Viktor to kiss while Yuuri dug out his silver. “You boys and your dragon thing. It’s so cute.”

"Here it is." Yuuri handed Viktor his medal to put on him and kiss. This one was followed by a kiss for Yuuri, too. Then he pulled out his medal for Yuuri and Yuuko to kiss.

 

They had a good vacation, spending the week in Hasetsu before returning to Russia. Yakov pulled Georgi and Yuuri aside. “Misha and Viktor have been through this, but it’s your first time. Be ready. Sponsors are going to be calling you looking for you to come in for photoshoots, commercials, all that fun stuff. The press is going to be calling you looking for interviews, photoshoots, statements, whatever they can get from you. The next two months are going to be crazy. If you medal, it will stay crazy afterward. You’ll still have practice, and I am not going to take it easy on you in the leadup to the Olympics. Yuuri, you will probably have to go to Japan at some point.”

Yuuri nodded. “They’ve already talked to me about that. I was thinking right after Four Continents I could go for a few days, do what I need to do, and then come back here for the rest of the time. A lot of stuff we should be able to do in Vancouver, depending on when exactly we need to be there and when competitions are.”

“True. Not a bad plan." Yakov fixed a stare on Yuuri. "You know I can’t let Viktor go, right?”

Too close to the Olympics, and Viktor would be busy with his own interviews and practice and such. “I know. Can I go to Europeans, if I promise to leave after the mens’ free skate?”

Yakov thought it over, and nodded. “Yes. If you feel comfortable with where you are in your training, you can go.”


	19. Chapter 19

Yakov and Mila left the week before Europeans for Mila’s next competition. Getting on the plane to Tallinn was a little weird, going with Georgi and without Misha. Viktor supposed he should get used to it, Misha was not going to be around forever, but that didn’t make it feel right. At least he had Yuuri beside him. Yuuri’s training was going well enough that he felt comfortable coming for a few days at least, which made Viktor happy.

So far, the media hadn’t been bad, but it started as soon as they got out of the airport. Yuuri had told his publicist that he was going to Europeans and would gladly use the time when Viktor was in practice for whatever media or sponsor activities people were interested in. Word had gotten out that Yuuri was going to be in Tallinn, and there were reporters waiting for them.

Typically, with the first day being practice only and the next being ice dance and pairs, Yuuri and Viktor would’ve grabbed Chris, Kamil, Georgi, whoever else wanted to come, and gone exploring the city. This was different. This time, they barely saw Chris that first day, as they were kept busy with magazine interviews, photoshoots, sponsor meetings, and the like all day. Some of them were individual – Yuuri doing an interview while Viktor was at a sponsor photoshoot – but there were some together, too.

Viktor’s personal favorites were the ones where their engagement or wedding were specifically mentioned. Free suits if they’d do a wedding-themed photoshoot in them, for instance. Yuuri got so cute about those!

Chris dropped by their room after dinner. “I’m exhausted and we haven’t even skated yet.”

“I know how you feel.” Yuuri hadn’t moved from where he flopped on the bed after dinner with reporters where they arranged a time to meet for a joint interview. “Just think about how much we’ll enjoy our vacation after Worlds.”

“Josef wants me to withdraw from Worlds. Europeans and the Olympics are enough, I should take an early break. I thought he was crazy, but after today… I may give it some serious thought!”

“Well, we’ll miss you if you decide not to come.” Viktor got to his feet and found a beer for Chris. “Want one, Yuuri?”

“Sure, why not.” Viktor raised an eyebrow but handed him a beer. “One thing I want to do this summer… get drunk and see what happens.”

“Oh? And what are you expecting to happen, Yuuri?” Chris teased, winking at Viktor. Viktor was very glad he hadn’t taken a sip yet.

Yuuri shrugged. “My dad gets incredibly stupid when he drinks. Makes a complete fool of himself. The kind of guy who you could suggest should put his underpants on his head and run around town wearing nothing else, and he’d think it sounded like fun and do it.”

“Sounds like fun! You should invite me.” Chris’s smile turned wicked. “I could teach you to pole dance!”

“Yeah, if I’m like my dad, you probably could. I probably wouldn’t remember any of it, but it’s not like I could do it sober anyway…”

“You could, I’m sure of it. You’ve got the dance ability. Ballet for years, ballroom, hip-hop, breakdance…” Yuuri turned bright red and started stammering out a denial. “Yurio showed me video, don’t deny it, the two of you had a lot of fun that day!”

Yuuri sighed. “Those are different. Those aren’t… those aren’t sexy.”

“Latin is. You’ve done that, haven’t you?” Chris said.

Yuuri shook his head, still blushing a little. “Not yet. I was going to this off-season if I could talk Viktor into coming with me.”

“Of course I’ll come with you!” Viktor hugged Yuuri. “I’d go with you if you decided you wanted to do pole dancing, too. It looks like fun.”

“I… I don’t… I’ll think about it.” Viktor decided to drop it there, but in his head, he let the squealing loose.

 

Viktor was quite grateful for the competition. It was a break from publicity. It was also the first time he'd seen Yakov since he'd arrived after making sure Mila got on her plane home with her shiny new silver medal. “How’s Yuuri handling the pre-Olympics publicity?”

“He’s good. It helps a lot that so many people either want to talk to both of us together from the beginning or love the idea when we suggest it if they want to talk to us both anyway, so I can be there with him for a lot of it.” Viktor had been afraid that the combination of the engagement and the Olympics might end up being too much, but it helped. It also meant one fewer round of extreme press attention.

“Good. And you?”

“I’m fine. It definitely helps having Yuuri there for so much of it, and Georgi for some!” Viktor turned around for Georgi to zip him up.

“This is exhausting and I’m glad it’s only once every four years,” Georgi said before Yakov could ask. “I’ll be good to skate, though.”

 

Viktor had drawn into the same group as Chris and Kamil, while Georgi would be in the final group, with Aaron and Kaleb, and Yulian was in the group before Viktor. Yulian had the lead when Viktor’s group started warming up, which made Viktor happy. The first two skaters placed below him, and then Chris took the lead with an 82. Viktor congratulated him as they passed each other – that was a good score!

To get in character, Viktor thought back to watching Yuuri in Canada, and how he’d felt knowing the cause of it all. It was all he needed. The two big jumps were clean, his flying spin good. Everything from there was easy for him, and he finished beautifully. He wasn’t as sure about this one as he’d been at Nationals, but he did expect to be over 90.

He was right. Lower than at Nationals, just a bit lower than at the Grand Prix Finals, but still over 90. He wasn’t worried. If Yakov was anything to go by, he’d have the record if he could just clean up a few things, and there were plenty of things he could clean up. Kamil did well, ending up in striking distance, as did Georgi, Kaleb, and Aaron. Viktor was in first by a lot, then Chris, Aaron, and Georgi.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Free skate and the beginning of Mopefest Round One

Yuuri was leaving almost immediately after the free skate. First thing in the morning. At least it was late enough he couldn’t leave that night. Still, it was enough for Viktor to agree to do publicity the day of the skate – as long as it was with Yuuri. No big things, but they got some interviews in, and bonus – Viktor already had his hair and makeup done when he headed for the rink.

Yakov was glad to see him looking reasonably rested. Viktor couldn’t blame him for the concern. “How are you feeling, Viktor?”

“Confident. Good. Misha’s not here, I can beat the rest of the field if I focus and skate the way I’m capable of. I hope Chris can hang on and medal, and Georgi takes the other one!”

“That would be good. Don’t underestimate Aaron or Kaleb or Kamil, though. Confidence is good. Cockiness is not.” Yakov checked his phone. “I am getting too old for this Olympic stuff. Remind me to retire before the 2014 Olympics.”

Viktor threw his arms around Yakov. “Nooooo, you can’t retire, who will coach me and Georgi and Yuuri there? And possibly Mila, I think she just barely will make the age restrictions.”

Georgi raised an eyebrow at Viktor. “You forgot Misha.”

“I didn’t forget. I’m just not sure he’ll stick around that long. But if he does, Misha, too, of course!”

 

Yulian put up another respectable score in the free skate to end the third group. Kamil started the final group off strong, and then Kaleb put up a huge score. Georgi did well, not quite catching up to Kaleb, so no sweep. Aaron had some kind of bad day, Viktor had to figure. He looked exhausted heading out onto the ice and then proceeded to drop below Yulian in the standings. Chris looked a little freaked out as he headed out. Viktor certainly couldn’t blame him. Aaron had been through two Olympics already; he knew the drill. He shouldn’t have gotten rattled by this. Thankfully, once his music started, Chris recovered nicely and skated well. He moved into second, right behind Kaleb and ahead of Georgi.

Viktor was the last skater. His starting triple flip – hopefully the last time he’d open with the triple – was beautiful. He landed his quad nicely. They could make fun of him all they wanted – heartbreak was easy to portray just by thinking about Yuuri having to go home to Russia – and then there was only a day or so before they had to leave for Four Continents, and then another separation while Yuuri went to Japan to do promotional stuff in his home country.

Yakov had different critiques this time than he had at Nationals, but to Viktor’s amusement, his free skate score was identical. It was good enough for gold here, too, with Kaleb silver and Chris taking bronze. Viktor felt bad for Georgi missing out on a medal, but there was always next time. Chris kissed Viktor’s medal while still on the podium – why wait?

Yuuri met Viktor with kisses for him and his medal. “I’m so proud of you.”

"Thank you!" Viktor hugged him close. “Think you can get a matching one at your competition?”

“I don’t know. It depends on if Cao Bin goes. I’ve been hearing rumors that he’s not going so he can prepare for the Olympics.”

“Your score at Nationals was impressive…”

“That was Nationals. Where I got silver, remember? Hokama-san is going to be at Four Continents, too, but if I can land that quad cleanly… maybe I can beat him.”

Viktor's face lit up. “Yes, you can. I believe in you.”

 

The next morning sucked. Viktor did not want to get out of bed, because getting out of bed meant taking Yuuri to the airport and no more cuddles or kisses for days. Yuuri was obviously having the same problem, from the way he clung to Viktor. “I don’t want to go home. I want to stay here and not leave you to face the publicity tour by yourself.”

“I’ll be fine, Yuuri, I didn’t have you last time. You’ll be fine, too, I know it.” Viktor kissed Yuuri’s cheek. “If you don’t want to go, though… I’m sure we can make up something to tell Yakov.”

“No, I have a medal to win, and I need practice on my quad. I’m going. I just don’t want to.” Yuuri started to get out of bed, but stopped and came back. “Five more minutes shouldn’t hurt anything.”

“You’re starting to sound a little too much like me. Yakov will kill me if you start picking up my bad habits.” Nevertheless, Viktor made no move to try to get up or make Yuuri get up.

A few minutes later, Yuuri sighed and got up for real. “Okay. Being responsible and hardworking and all that stuff that Yakov likes about me. Do you have to get to something right away?”

“Yes, the airport, to say goodbye to my fiancé. Once your plane leaves, I have an interview with an American writer for a magazine – her partner is planning to catch you in Russia before I can tell you what they’re asking me. It’s that couples thing our publicists wanted us to do, they’re asking me questions about you and you questions about me.”

“Oh yeah, and then they’re going to get us both at Four Continents so they can talk to both of us and we get to hear the other’s side. In the meantime we’re not supposed to tell each other what happened in the interviews.”

“That’s the one. I know you agreed to do it, but if it starts messing with your anxiety too badly, worrying about what I might have said, just tell me. I’d rather have them mad at me than you worried with a competition coming up. If I say something that I know you’re going to need to hear privately, I’m going to tell you about it.”

“Viktor, be real. You’re going to tell me at least part of what you said just because you’re terrible at keeping secrets.”

“True!” Viktor stared at his clothes. “Do you remember if they said anything about taking pictures?”

“They’re taking pictures. They’ll have hair and makeup people there, so don’t worry about that, but you’ll need to dress nicely. At least mine’s tomorrow so I’m not going to look like a travel zombie. Just a sleep-deprived zombie.”


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pre-Olympic Mopefest 2010 Part 2

The couples interview wasn’t too bad. Viktor was very much looking forward to hearing Yuuri’s answers in Jeonju, but he didn’t feel like there was anything too bad in what he was asked. There were a couple things he wished he’d talked to Yuuri about before they went because in retrospect, duh, of course they asked, but he’d given bland and boring answers, so that shouldn’t be a problem.

Yuuri called late the next day. “I am so stupid.”

“Yuuri! You are not stupid. What happened with the interview?”

“Just some questions I should’ve seen coming and didn’t.” Oh, thank goodness, Viktor wasn’t the only one who didn’t think ahead enough. “And… kind of turned into a mess trying to answer, you know?”

“You did fine, I’m sure of it, love.” If they were the same questions Viktor got, he was very curious to hear what Yuuri had said. “I got them too, and wasn’t prepared.”

“You’re better at handling the media and rolling with things, though. I can’t imagine you got as flustered as I did.”

“No, probably not." One of the few regrets about agreeing to this setup. He didn't get to see adorable flustered Yuuri and he wasn't there to keep it from getting too bad. "I wish I could hug you right now, but I promise, whatever you said, it’s fine.”

“Even if I said something about our love being strong enough to exorcise squid demons?”

Viktor burst into laughter. “Did you really say that?” He couldn’t see why Yuuri would, but if he got flustered enough, who knew? It was certainly one hell of a mental image.

“No. That was a nightmare I had last night. Except that it turned into a good dream because you saved me.” Yuuri laughed along with him. “If I really had said it, I wouldn’t have mentioned it, because I would have loved to see your face when they asked you about it.”

“Good. I’d have loved to see my face too! How bad were the nightmares?”

“Not bad. At least I was actually sleeping, and that particular one was my own fault for watching this anime Phichit suggested right before bedtime. The anime is good, but I should have known better to watch it when you wouldn’t be there. Makkachin and Vicchan were helpful, at least. Makkachin is a very cuddly dog, did you know that?”

“I’ve had her since she was old enough to leave her mother, would you expect anything less?”

“No. No, I would not. Any excitement with the skating today?”

“Chris is about to lose his mind, I think. Masumi and Jolanda won gold, and he wasn’t there to watch because his coach made him go to what was supposed to be a brief interview for TV that would be over before the ice dancing started and turned into a much larger production than he or Josef expected. He finished about the time they were doing the medal ceremony.”

“Oh no! At least there’s YouTube, but that’s not the same.”

“I don’t know if you got it, but they asked me if we planned on getting married during the exhibition skate at the Olympics or Worlds.”

“You’re joking.”

“Nope.”

“What did you say?”

“I’m not supposed to tell you that…”

“You’re not supposed to tell me what they asked you either, and yet.” Yuuri paused. “We’re… not doing that, are we?”

“Next year’s Worlds, maybe, if we can figure out a way to do an entire wedding in the time we’re given, and get your parents to come, and we can get Chris and Phichit and Yurio and Mila and Yakov and no, I don’t think there’s any way we could do it. Even if we both medaled or got invited to perform and we convinced them to let us perform back to back and just let us keep going during what would normally be the break to change skaters, the wedding would be so rushed that I don’t think anyone would enjoy it at all.”

“Good. Because that does sound like the kind of thing you would do.”

Viktor would take offense, but… “I’ve been thinking about how to do it since they asked, and I cannot come up with any good way.”

“I think Yuri just might kill us if we tried. He’s a little cranky at me right now. Says I’m being disgusting and need to stop moping around the ice before I get myself hurt.”

“Sounds like Yuri. Why would you get hurt from moping?”

“Because Yuri’s going to lose his temper and kick me with his knife shoes.”

“Knife shoes?” Creative. Very Yuri. Yakov would kill him for messing up a good pair of skates like that.

“That’s what he said.”

“Any word from Irina?”

“Not that I’ve heard about, and I’m not going to ask him.”

 

Two more days, and then Viktor could get on a plane and get home to Yuuri. Yuuri wasn’t at the airport when Viktor got out, though. “Where is he? Is he hurt? Did he forget? That wouldn’t be like him… fell asleep? Got stuck in a photoshoot? Abducted by a squid demon?”

Yakov rolled his eyes. “Have you checked your phone, Vitya?”

“Oh. Right.” Viktor pulled out his phone. There was a message from about an hour earlier. _Won’t be at airport to meet you – Misha, Emiliya, and Yuri are sick. Food poisoning they think. Staying with Yuri while Lilia gets medicine and takes M &E supplies._

Viktor shared that with Yakov, who glared at the phone. “What’s Misha thinking, getting food poisoning now? He knows better than to be careless about what he eats.”

Viktor patted his shoulder. “Yakov, anyone can get a bad beet or whatever. At least food poisoning isn’t contagious and it’s over quickly.”

Lilia had just gotten home when Viktor and Yakov arrived. Viktor went to find Yuri, who was curled in bed with Potya, with Makkachin and Vicchan sitting watch near them. Yuuri was reading The Brothers Karamazov to Yuri, who was only half listening unless Yuuri stopped to ask him a question about a word.

Yuuri set the book aside very gladly when Viktor came in. “You’re home.”

Yuri made a face. “I’m already sick. Don’t make me sicker by getting all nauseating in here. I want a nap anyway. Hi Viktor.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a squid demon. <3


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hooray, Couples Interview!
> 
> Timeline: end of January 2010

Thankfully for Yakov’s heart and voice and everyone else at the rink’s sanity, Misha and Yuri recovered quickly. They only missed a couple days of practice, and it was Viktor’s opinion that the only reason Misha took the second day was so that he could avoid Yakov until after Four Continents. By then, with any luck, Yuuri’s shiny medal would have calmed Yakov down.

Takeshi and Yuuko’s flight got in less than an hour after the flight from Russia, so Viktor and Yuuri hung around the airport while Yakov rolled his eyes and headed for the hotel to get them checked in. Yuuko looked tired when she got off the plane, but she had plenty of energy to run to Yuuri for a hug. “You’re alive! I’m so proud of you!”

“Huh?” Yuuri hugged back, but he was very confused. As was Viktor. “Is there a rumor going around that I’m dead…?”

“No. It’s just… I’m Japanese, living in Japan, where privacy is a huge cultural thing, not already a world media favorite, and my husband is just some guy instead of an even more famous skater who I’m about to compete against, and the Olympic publicity is exhausting! I almost withdrew from Four Continents last week, the nerves were getting to me so bad I was throwing up before going to interviews and press conferences.”

“Oh no! I’m so sorry, Yuuko! It’s been bad for me, but so much of what I’ve done I’ve been doing with Viktor, which helps so much. I’m coming to Japan after this, maybe we can convince people to do a Hasetsu package deal so we can be together during things?”

“Just some guy, huh?” Takeshi raised an eyebrow at Yuuko. “I had no idea you felt that way about me.”

“Oh shut up you, you know perfectly well what I meant.” Yuuko stuck her tongue out at Takeshi. “You know how grateful I am that I’m not Yuuri. No offense, Viktor, but I couldn’t handle the fame, I don’t think.”

“Yuuri’s adapted well. You probably could, too, if you had a good enough reason.”

 

Publicity at Four Continents was just as busy and packed as it had been at Europeans. They barely got to see Paul and Skye, just long enough to wish Paul a happy birthday. They didn’t get to see much of the city at all, just what they could see on their way from one meeting to the next.

The final part of the couple’s interview was scheduled for day 1. They started early, hoping to be done in time to go watch the ladies’ skate – Yuuko was in the next to last group, and Skye in the last, so they had some time, but with Yuuri’s anxiety, they didn’t want to take too much of a risk.

It started basically enough – going through the timeline of their relationship over the past three years and some of the highlights from the press’s wrong rumors about them. “Yuuri, was there ever any point where you didn’t believe Viktor?”

“Only right at first, when the shock that the boy I’d looked up to so much and my career goal was based on was standing in front of me telling me I was his soulmate.”

The interviewer laughed at that. “I think anyone who was a fan of Viktor would have reacted the same way! Since then?”

“No. He convinced me that first meeting, and I’ve never questioned it since. When I turn eighteen next year, I know who I’ll see in my dream.”

“Okay. So, I talked to each of you separately, asking you some questions about each other. Who wants to go first?”

Viktor and Yuuri looked at each other. “It doesn’t matter to us.”

“All right then. I’ll start with you, Viktor. We asked you both this one: favorite thing about each other. Any guess what Yuuri said about you?”

“Makkachin. Yuuri loves me for my dog.” Viktor winked as Yuuri started to laugh.

The interviewer was grinning. “No, that’s not what he said. He said that you never fail to surprise him. I’m hoping we can let you do that a few times today, too.”

Viktor thought back over his answers. “I think there may be one or two in there.”

“Good. Yuuri?”

“Did you actually get an answer out of him or did he just keep insisting that ‘everything’ was his favorite?”

“He tried, but we got an actual answer. His favorite thing about you is that you let him be himself, instead of trying to make him be who you thought he was before you knew him.”

Yuuri smiled and squeezed Viktor’s hand. “I like him better than I would have if he really had been the person I thought I knew before we actually met. It’s a lot easier and a lot more fun to be the fiancé of someone you’ve seen completely lose it over a ninja castle, or who takes a joke about being part dragon and turns it into a free skate, than it is to be the soulmate of an untouchable skating god.”

“That’s a good segue into your least favorite thing about each other. Viktor told us you once made him watch a documentary about sheep because you were so sick of ninjas?”

Yuuri started laughing harder. “Oh my god. Everything wrong with me, and that’s what you picked? The stupid sheep documentary?”

“Everything else about you is so amazing!” Viktor grinned. “Was Yuuri’s least favorite thing about me the ninja obsession? Please let it be the ninja obsession.”

“It was not the ninja obsession, sorry. It was the media attention.”

Viktor pouted, and Yuuri snuggled into his side. “If it makes you feel any better, the ninja obsession was my backup plan if they said that wasn’t about you.”

A few questions later, they got to the first one that had taken Viktor by surprise. “Neither of you seemed all that certain in your answer to the next question, about waiting for marriage. Well, Viktor, you were certain that if that’s what Yuuri wanted to do, then that’s what you would do. Why the surprise, though?”

Viktor decided not to go with the truth and say that it was because he was an idiot. “Every step in our relationship has been done on the basis of when it feels right to take that step. We don’t set targets for ourselves – you might remember the business about Yuuri’s sixteenth birthday and first kiss. We haven’t set up a target on this one either. And, quite frankly, I don’t think we’ll be making announcements to the public about it. It’s nobody’s business but ours. If we do end up waiting for marriage, it will be because that’s what feels right for us, not because we’re trying to make some kind of statement to anyone.” Beside him, Yuuri nodded along while blushing furiously.

The other one Viktor hadn’t anticipated but should have came up toward the end of the interview. “You’re both still young, but Viktor, this is your second Olympics, and three or four seem to be about the maximum for a career. When you two are no longer skating, what do you want to do?”

Viktor looked at Yuuri, pretending to think about it. “Given that it’s so far away, we haven’t talked about it, but I’m guessing Yuuri would like to return to Hasetsu. I can see him coaching; he’s so good at working with Mila and Yurio. Even teaching ballet. Minako’s not going to go easy on him just because he retires from skating; he could possibly take over her studio when she’s ready to retire.”

“The first couple years for Viktor are easy. He’s four years older than me, so chances are he’ll retire first. I don’t see myself leaving Yakov unless he retires before I do, so we’ll stay in St. Petersburg, he’ll choreograph my routines, probably offer choreography to anyone else at the rink who wants it. When I retire, I don’t know. He loves the ice too much to leave it, but coaching… I love you, Viktor, but I don’t know that coaching’s right for you.”

“Well, some things you agreed on: you both want to go to Hasetsu after you’re both retired. You both see yourselves and each other staying with the ice in some capacity. Neither of you could imagine being dogless for very long. Both of you stared at me like deer in the headlights when I asked if you saw kids in your future.”

“We’re still over a year away from even getting married! We’re kids ourselves!” Viktor protested.

Yuuri laughed at him. “Or at least, you act like one, still.”

“So… kids?”

“We still haven’t talked about it!” Viktor protested. “This is the kind of conversation we really ought to have without a camera on us, so…”

“Okay, fine. Now. Last one. We asked Viktor about the possibility of you two surprising us with your wedding skate.”

Yuuri grinned. “Not a surprise after we announced our engagement that way. Besides, where are we going to find someone to do the ceremony who can skate and smuggle them in without getting caught?”


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short Program
> 
> Timeline: End of January 2010

They made it back to the rink in time to watch Yuuko’s short program. Despite her business with publicity, her skate was beautiful, putting her in second behind Tamae. Skye was in sixth. Both of them were happy with how they had done.

Yuuri’s short program was the next day, which provided the perfect excuse for a break from publicity. Normally, this would be time to go explore, but it ended up being time to sit in the hotel room and lay on the bed and do nothing. “So… cameras off… good time to talk about kids?” Yuuri said.

“I love you, Yuuri, and I’d carry your babies if I could, but sadly I’m not equipped for it.”

Yuuri laughed and stuck his tongue out at Viktor. “If now’s not a good time to talk, fine, it’s not like I’m not marrying you no matter what. It’s just, you know how I am when I get something in my head, and blame the interview people but I’m curious now.”

“Two years ago, I’d have probably said I wasn’t interested, because I didn’t know how to family. Now…" Viktor's eyes got huge and he smacked his forehead. "I’m still not sure I know how to family. We missed Sasha’s birthday!”

“And… oh." Yuuri's eyes got huge as well when he realized. "She’s eighteen. When was her birthday?”

“The eighteenth. Right at the start of Europeans.”

“You should call her! Beg her forgiveness. Kind of wonder why she didn’t call you… I guess that would explain why she didn’t come to Europeans, if she was getting her soulmate situation figured out.”

Sasha didn’t answer when Viktor called, so he set a reminder to try again in an hour and put the phone aside. “Anyway, Yurio kind of feels like a bit of a practice run. He’s not our kid, but we’re better parents to him than his father ever was, and here lately his mom’s not going to be winning any parent of the year awards.”

“Heh. I’ve been thinking of him as the little brother I always wanted. I’m not that much older than him…”

“I wouldn’t mind adopting, or asking one of our sisters, or Yuuko, to surrogate for us. What do you want?”

“I always wanted kids someday. Not any time soon.”

“Sounds like a good place to leave it, then. At some point in the future, we want kids, but not yet.”

 

Sasha hadn’t answered by the time Yuuri had to leave to get ready for his skate. He’d drawn into the third group, out of five, and while that wasn’t ideal, he could handle it. Cao Bin had decided to come after all, but Zhou Zemin hadn’t. Masato, Bin, and Yuuri were the favorites for the podium, with Paul and a couple young Canadian skaters considered the most likely upsets.

Of the contenders, Yuuri had to skate first. He’d have preferred to go later, so he’d have some idea what he needed to do, but he could handle it. “How are you holding up with the press, Yuuri?” Yakov asked.

“Viktor’s been great. I’m not looking forward to Japan without him, but it’s too close to the Olympics for him to come.”

“And you’re okay?”

“I’m okay. The worst pressure is the pressure I’m putting on myself. I don’t want people thinking Nationals was a fluke.”

“Good luck.”

Yuuri’s skate started strong, with a beautiful camel spin. Landing his jump combo made him relax. For him, the hardest jump was behind him. Everything came together well, spins crisp, step sequences magnetic as always. He landed both his triple loop and triple axel well, and finished his program with a beautiful step sequence. Another performance to be proud of.

As he left the ice, something hit him in the face. He instinctively caught it and studied it as best he could without his glasses. It wasn’t the usual poodle or dragon or occasional pig. It was a white, four-legged animal, wearing an all-black outfit with a mask covering its face… Yuuri started giggling. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know where Viktor had gotten it.

Yakov was proud. He had some suggestions for how to make it even better, of course. Yuuri was a little disappointed when his score came up as an 82, even though he’d been expecting it to be lower than it had been at Nationals. The judges at Nationals had been very generous with performance scores. Here, not so much.

Paul, Bin, and one of the Canadians, Clarien St Denis, were in group 4. Paul and Clarien’s 70s weren’t a surprise, but Bin only made it to 73. That was a bit of a shock. In group 5, the other Canadian, Kyle Tremblay, put up another 70. Masato was the last skater, and Yuuri gasped in surprise when his score came up – 81. Yuuri had the lead by a point.

 

He didn’t spend long talking to the press, because his phone started ringing. He checked the number and ran away to find somewhere relatively private to answer. “Sasha?”

“Hey, Yuuri.”

“Happy birthday. Sorry we’re so late!”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ve never expected Viktor to remember before. It didn’t occur to me that he’d forgotten until I saw the missed calls. Figured he was busy with all this Olympic stuff… I didn’t go to the last summer ones, but a couple of the people at my gym did.”

“How come you called me instead of him?”

Sasha sighed. “Because I’m not sure I want to tell him about my soulmate just yet. For one thing, he’s younger than me and I’m not going to him until he has his dream. For another, I think Viktor’s going to hate him on general principles.”

“Viktor will respect waiting. Why’s Viktor going to hate him? Am I?”

“Probably. I gotta go, but tell Viktor I’m okay and I’m not mad at him for not calling, okay?”

“Okay.” Yuuri hung up and looked at the phone. He hoped Viktor would be able to get an answer out of her. He didn’t like the thought of hating his sister-in-law’s soulmate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am a nincompoop. I completely forgot that Sasha was due an eighteenth birthday. Thank god for Viktor being canon forgetful and him and Sasha having been so distant for so long. :D
> 
> My parents did the "practice kid" thing with my cousin. Dunno whether it's their fault or my aunt and uncle's fault that he turned into such a ridiculous dude. Their other kid is perfectly lovely.


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Free skates!
> 
> Timeline: end of January 2010

The next day was back to publicity for Yuuri and back to the rink for Yuuko. A lot of the interviews wanted to talk about his first-place standing at Four Continents, which was not helping Yuuri deal with the nerves – especially when they reminded him that his free skate had beaten Masato’s at Nationals. Yuuri tried to deflect, but they were not having it. What was stopping him from taking the gold here? And Viktor, the bastard, egged them on and said that Yuuri could do it if he’d just believe in himself.

They took a break mid-afternoon so they could go watch Skye and Yuuko’s skates. Tamae’s cold had evidently gotten better as she outskated Yuuko for the gold, but Yuuko took silver, and Skye moved up to take the bronze with an incredible performance. Hugs all around as they celebrated on the podium, and then Yuuko came flying over for medal kisses. “This’ll make the interviews much more comfortable tomorrow,” Yuuko said. “No speculation over whether I can defeat Tamae or if there’s someone who could beat me for silver. Just talk about my medal and my hopes for the Olympics.”

Yuuri groaned. “I’ve got a couple more tonight. I hate those. You’d think they’d have enough to talk about with the Olympics that they wouldn’t need to waste the time speculating!”

 

The last interview included a photoshoot, which finished late. Yuuri was rather exhausted when he finally made it back to the hotel, and was happy to collapse into bed and try to sleep. It wasn’t working. Even Viktor’s sleepy snores weren’t helping like they usually did. Yuuri couldn’t stop the worry about the expectations. His score would not be as good. There was no way he skated as well, and the judges here were tougher on presentation. Even if he did land the quad toe loop cleanly, he wasn’t expecting to beat Masato. Bin would probably skate better, possibly enough better to claim silver, or even gold. Last year, his bronze had been a joyous surprise. This year, bronze would be a massive disappointment.

Viktor woke up early and held Yuuri tighter. “Did you get any sleep?”

Yuuri's yawn pretty much answered for him, but he still clarified. “A little. Fits and starts. Not much.”

“Okay. After practice, we’re coming back here so you can take a nap.”

“Or try, anyway.” Yuuri didn't see how things would be any better after practice, but it couldn't hurt, and it was better than going anywhere. So far, nobody had tried to break into their hotel room for an interview or photo or autograph.

Viktor ran a hand over Yuuri's hair. “Is there anything I can do to help you?”

“Not really. Just keep believing in me.”

“Always.” Viktor kissed Yuuri's forehead.

“Hey, did you talk to Sasha yet?”

“No, I was going to try again while you’re in practice.”

“She called me. We didn’t talk long, but she said to tell you she’s not mad at you and just figured Olympic madness made it slip your mind.”

“Did she say anything about her soulmate?”

“Younger than her and she’s waiting for his birthday to do anything about it, and she doesn’t think you’ll like him.”

“Hmmm. That’s somewhat ominous… is it someone we know?”

“She didn’t say.” Yuuri had managed to hold off any speculation. No sense in coming up with possibilities that would probably end up being much worse than the actual truth.

 

Yakov was happy to see some improvement after the nap, anyway, but he didn’t even have to ask how Yuuri felt. “You can do this. I don’t see any way you lose the podium unless you get so lost in your head we have a repeat of Canada, and that’s not going to happen, is it?”

“No. I’m not going to be that bad.”

“Good. Masato and Bin are both good skaters. You can beat Masato, but if you don’t, there’s no shame in that. I’ve seen Bin pull off some huge comebacks, and even Viktor and Misha have lost to him this season, so if he beats you, you’ve got good company.”

That got a smile out of Yuuri, which relaxed some of the tension from both him and Yakov. “Thanks, coach. I’ll remember that.”

There was a bit of a surprise out of the third group, with Paul’s teammate Ben Cooper coming out of nowhere with a score over 150. Even Paul looked surprised by how well he’d done. Clarien was first in the last group. He did all right – not spectacular, but solid. Paul did the same, placing above Clarien, but not by much. Kyle stumbled quite a bit, dropping well out of the medals with a score of 102. Bin was better than the day before, certainly, but still not up to his usual. His 155 left Masato and Yuuri a lot of room, especially considering their huge lead from the day before. Yuuri let himself relax a little. Japan would be happy with a gold and silver no matter which of Masato and Yuuri took the gold. He relaxed a little more when Masato went out and put up a 164, for a total of 245.

Yuuri’s triple axel was good. He didn’t get the power into it that he had at Nationals, but it was clean and pretty and gave him good confidence through the step sequence as he headed for his quad toe loop. It wasn’t the best he’d ever done, but it was clean and landed on one foot. Combination spin good, he kept the momentum going through his next jumps. Once he hit his final pose, he was breathing hard, but once again, no major mistakes. He hadn’t skated as well as he had at Nationals, but it had been good still.

He listened to Yakov attentively as he tried to determine whether it was good enough. His score came up – not quite 164, but close enough to give him a total of 246 and the gold medal. Masato offered him his congratulations on the podium. “If I can’t beat you at the Olympics or Worlds, it may be time to take the ‘Rising’ out of your title.”

Yuuri went red. He'd just barely gotten used to being Japan's Rising Ace. “You’re still Japan’s best skater, I’ve just had better luck so far. I’m sure you’ll beat me at both.”

Collecting medal kisses was fun, especially Viktor’s. He looked so thrilled to be kissing this one that Yuuri couldn’t stop giggling. “I’ve won gold medals before, Viktor…”

“Yes, but this one’s huge! It’s your first international gold as a senior!”

“You are so ridiculous.” Yuuri reached up to kiss Viktor.


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri goes to Japan and has to deal with a bit of weirdness. Then, there's a new Soulmate Conspiricy Theory.
> 
> Timeline: early February 2010

Viktor had to go home the next morning, while Yuuri stayed for the exhibition skate. His exhibition skate was somewhat lackluster compared to his normal skates, between missing Viktor already and having to go to Japan alone. The audience loved it, but Yuuko found him afterwards. “Yuuri? What’s wrong?”

Yuuri forced a smile. “It’s nothing. Just missing Viktor.”

“Oh. Separation anxiety? He just left this morning, didn’t he?”

“I know. You remember how I was when he first left. I don’t know why it’s so hard for us, but it is. Normally I can cover better than that, we split up for competitions all the time and I do fine, but with the Olympics and all… I can’t. I can only fight so much.”

“That, I can relate to.” Yuuko hugged Yuuri. “Now, concerned friend time: how much of your relationship with Viktor is about the difficulty being apart?”

“It was a factor in deciding to stay in Russia, but other than that, none. I used to try not to be too clingy, I was afraid that Viktor was just putting up with me because that’s what he should do as a soulmate and the separation sucks, but I know better now.”

“Okay. I didn’t think it was a problem, but as your friend, I have a duty to make sure you’re happy. It seems like you are. Except for the separation.”

 

Being in Hasetsu helped a little with the separation, because there, at least, he was with his parents and Mari and Minako, too. He was successful in convincing a lot of the reporters to change from writing about one or the other to writing about both, so at least most of the time he was with Yuuko. Yuuri’s three favorites were the morning at the rink, where they mostly focused on Yuuko because of her family ties to it, the afternoon at the onsen where Yuuri got to show off his family and their hard work, and the afternoon at Minako’s studio where they talked a lot to Minako and just let Yuuri dance for most of the time.

Yuuri’s least favorite was the trip to the school. Yuuko’s class was gone, so it was less weird for her, but Yuuri’s old classmates were still there. Some of them were just as Yuuri remembered – annoying, no use for the boy who dropped out, best ignored. The press was somewhat shocked by it, but Yuuri didn’t let it get to him.

There were a few, though, who had changed their tune. Yamabe Miko and Momoi Ichiha, for example. They were the two girls who had approached him and Viktor when Viktor came to Hasetsu. They were the ones who laughed at him. Miko was the one whose MySpace had gotten them discovered by the media. They were both eager to get on camera, and talked about how much they’d always respected Yuuri, and how close they were, and how they’d been among the first to know after Yuuri met his soulmate. “Of course, we were a little surprised, we all thought it would be Yuuko, but if there were anyone in Hasetsu that Viktor would be matched with, we should have known it was our Yuuri. We’ve always known he had a bright future ahead of him, and look at him now!”

Even with the cameras off, they and others like them continued to act like they’d been Yuuri’s best friends since childhood. It was awkward, and he did his best to be polite without actually playing along. He was very glad to get out of there once the reporters said they had what they needed. He ran the whole way to the Ice Castle.

Yuuko followed him. “They talk like that all the time, Yuuri. It wasn’t just because the reporters were here. Those two are the worst, but they’re not the only ones.”

“Why?”

“It makes them feel special or important to believe that they’re friends with an Olympian and a celebrity. Takeshi and I usually call them out on it, so now they hate us and avoid us as much as possible. Ignore them; you know who your real friends are.”

Yuuri smiled. It was true. He did. “They’re the ones who got over being assholes all by themselves before I got famous or never had to in the first place?”

“Exactly!” Yuuko giggled and grabbed Yuuri’s hand. “Skate with me. Teach me that fairy tale skate you did with Viktor!”

 

Getting back to Russia was great. Yuuri would have slept for a week in the cuddle pile of Viktor, Makkachin, and Vicchan, except that he’d missed so much practice lately, and the Olympics were a week away. Viktor had been chosen to carry the Russian flag in the opening ceremony, which meant they couldn’t skip out. Yuuri wouldn’t be carrying the flag, but he was expected to march with Japan in the parade of nations. He was too well-known to skip without having to give an explanation, and there was no way he was telling the JSF or the press that he couldn’t march because he was too wrung out from the last couple of months.

Yakov did not take it easy on Yuuri, trying to get him back into shape. Lots of drills, lots of shouting, harsh criticism of every small detail of everything Yuuri did. Yuuri was extremely grateful that he’d been with Yakov as long as he had. This was not Yakov thinking Yuuri had gotten lazy or weak; this was Yakov pushing Yuuri to be the best he could be.

A couple days before the Olympics, Yuuko called. “Did you see the latest conspiracy theory about you and soulmates?”

“Uhoh. Whose soulmate am I now? Or who’s Viktor’s real soulmate?”

“You and I are soulmates. Viktor is Takeshi’s soulmate. Takeshi only stopped hating you when he found a way to trade soulmates with you so that he could keep me for himself.”

“You’re kidding me. Really? Takeshi never hated me, did he? He was jealous of my skating and somewhat about us being such good friends, but… he didn’t hate me, I don’t think.”

“No. Like you said. Childhood jealousy.”

“So how’s he supposed to have traded soulmates with me?”

“I don’t know. It didn’t say. Honestly, if he did? I think he did us both a favor. You wouldn’t have stood up to my mom the way Takeshi did, we’d be married and you’d be studying for what my mom considered a real job and I’d probably have a kid by now. Neither of us would be skating.”

“Is that what you’re going to say if a reporter asks?”

“Sure, why not? Feel free to use it.”


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to Vancouver!
> 
> Timeline: mid-Feburary 2010

On the flight to Vancouver, Yuuri woke up suddenly from an attempt at a nap and started berating himself in Japanese. Viktor hugged him. “Whatever’s wrong, I don’t think it’s necessary to be calling yourself those things. Bad dream?”

“No, I just realized… the opening ceremonies are on Valentine’s Day.”

“They are?” Viktor blinked. They were. Huh. That was going to make taking Yuuri out for a romantic date hard.

“Yes! And I forgot all about it, so I didn’t make you chocolates!”

Viktor chuckled softly. Yes, this was important to Yuuri, but it was kind of ridiculous, wasn't it? There was even an easy way to fix it. “It’s all right, Yuuri, I forgot about it too. Probably not the best idea, tasty homemade chocolates this close to the Olympics anyway. We’ll just both do chocolates on White Day, okay?”

Yuuri curled in against Viktor. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

“Yuuri. You remembering now is more than I would have expected, given the Olympics. Don’t be mad at yourself. If you’d remembered and said something to remind me, I’d have told you to wait anyway. You are completely forgiven, if you feel the need to be.”

“Okay.” Yuuri closed his eyes, going back to sleep with Viktor’s arm around him. 

 

Yuuri wanted to stay at the hotel and nap for a bit – they had plenty of time to go running all over Vancouver, and he was tired. Viktor decided to go out without him to explore the Olympic Village. He was starting to regret it about the fifth time someone asked him where Yuuri was. Thankfully, he was able to control himself when yet another person asked and he turned around to find Yuuko and Takeshi. “Oh! Hello! Good to see you. Yuuri’s having a nap. How was your flight?”

“Long. Boring. Boring is good though, when it comes to airplanes!” Yuuko said.

“Certainly better than crashing or getting sick!" Viktor winked, and Yuuko blushed a little and looked away. "Takeshi, thank you for the soulmate switch. It worked out very well for all concerned, wouldn’t you say?”

Takeshi start laughing. “Yuuko tells me that’s the official Hamster position on that rumor. I’m glad you’re not mad that I chose to get rid of you.”

“Getting Yuuri more than makes up for it. Not just for my own personal gain, but for figure skating as a whole, because with the switch the sport gets both Yuuri and Yuuko still!”

“I’d have done everything I could to fight for them to keep skating. Once you came around you’d have helped, I’m sure, if you’d decided to wait for my birthday for whatever reason.” Takeshi chuckled. “If Yuuri didn’t get thrown in jail for killing me because I was your soulmate, anyway. He’d have been so mad it wasn’t him. He might even have helped me, once he knew you were involved.”

 

Dinner was a loud and noisy affair, thanks to having so many of their friends in one place. Chris was extremely put out by the drinking age being nineteen. “My birthday is tomorrow! But, of course, I can’t go out because of opening ceremonies.”

Masumi shook his head. “If you hadn’t kicked up so much fuss about being carded, I’d have bought your drinks, but now they’re going to be watching you. My coach has Joli and me on such a strict diet right now… Josef isn’t doing the same to you?”

“Of course he is, but everyone knows birthday drinks don’t count.” Chris winks. “As long as I can still hit my jumps in practice, he just ignores it if I cheat.”

Misha rolled his eyes. “Cut the young guy a break, Masumi. He’s still at the age where he can eat whatever he wants. He’ll learn.”

“Such old men,” Viktor teased. “Yuuri, if I ever get like that, make me stop?”

Yuuri shook his head. “I’m going to start acting like that long before you.”

“Everyone knows Yuuri’s the responsible adult in your relationship!” Georgi said. “Don’t give me that face, you know it’s true, Viktor. Even Yakov thinks so.”

“Yakov seems to think I’m still fifteen,” Viktor grumbled. “I’m smarter than that now.”

 

A speed skater had been chosen to carry the flag for Japan, so all Yuuri had to do was walk with the rest of the team. He and Yuuko stuck together – Yuuko’s nerves were starting to get to her again, although she’d gotten better by the time she had to walk.

Viktor quite enjoyed himself as Russia’s flag bearer. Misha and Georgi walked with him, and Viktor waved to the crowds. The only way it could have been more fun is if Yuuri were able to walk with him, but at least Yuuri was in the parade.

 

The next day, after practice, Viktor and Yuuri went out exploring. Viktor wanted to go visit TV show sets, which Yuuri agreed to readily enough. It would keep them out of trouble, and their short program was the next day. Even if they’d never heard of most of these shows, it was still fun. X-Files, they’d heard of. Supernatural, they’d heard of. Skye was a huge fan, for some reason having something to do with an actor who wasn’t there that week, although she started squealing when she saw another one of the actors. “The Trickster’s coming back! Oh my gosh!”

Paul took a step away from her. “The Trickster? That douchebag that kept killing Dean? Him coming back is a good thing?”

“Well, not for Dean, probably. But come on, his episodes are hilarious! And I know you’re behind on the season, but he’s already been in one episode of season 5, and you’re going to love it. No, he does not kill Dean again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got a bit self-indulgent at the end. <3


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Olympic Men's Short Program
> 
> Timeline: February 16th, 2010

The day of the short program, Yuuri woke up from a bizarre dream in which he was a sheep being chased by a dragon. The dragon had just caught him when he felt a hand on his arm. He flailed and jerked away, opening his eyes to see Viktor staring at him, head tilted. Viktor laughed at him when Yuuri tried to apologize and explain. “Don’t worry about it. You’re not just a sheep, you’re a ninja sheep, and you’re going to use your ninja powers to make the dragon let you go!”

“I just hope it doesn’t mean anything for today’s performance. What would it mean, my program’s going to be boring and mindless?” He didn't need a dream to tell him that Viktor was going to beat him.

“I can’t imagine any program you do being boring and mindless." Viktor reached out and tousled Yuuri's hair. "NINJA SHEEP.”

Yuuri shook his head and sat up finally. “You know there’s no way Yakov lets you do a ninja sheep program.”

“I know. I already did a ninja program anyway, so I don’t mind. And plain sheep are boring.”

 

After practice, Viktor and Yuuri hid in their room watching movies until they were interrupted by a knock at the door. Viktor checked the time. “It’s almost time anyway. Wonder who it is. If it’s a reporter, I’m telling them to go away. Okay?”

“Okay.” Yuuri shut down the computer and started going through both of their bags to make sure they had everything.

Viktor opened the door to find Yurio and Mila. He stood back to let them in. “How’d you two get in here?”

“Lilia and Yakov brought us in. So anyway, good luck or whatever.” Yuri hugged them both.

“Thank you!” Viktor hugged back. “Next time, I better see you in Olympic Village as a competitor, Mila.”

Mila twirled and jumped. “You know you will. I hope Misha’s still around. Five skaters for Yakov to herd! And then the next one, he'll still have five, unless you decide to get old and retire, because then Yurio will be old enough.”

 

Of all the crappy luck, Yuuri had somehow managed to draw the first group. He was the only one he knew in the group, too. Yakov tried to help. “Just focus on your own skate. The other scores will be low, and that’s okay. You won’t be scored down for going early like it was in the old days.”

“No, I… I know.” Yuuri resisted the urge to fiddle with his costume. It was fine. “I’m just nervous. I’ll be okay once I get out there. I think.”

“All right. Go on. Go get first place that’s going to last for a while.”

Yuuri nodded and started out to center ice. The nerves didn’t quite go away as he started off with his camel spin, but he landed his jump combination just fine, and settled down on his second spin. He was at the Olympics. He was skating for Japan in the Olympics, and he hadn’t messed up the thing he was most likely to. He wasn’t favored for a medal, but he’d been mentioned as a possible upset medalist. People other than Viktor and the rest of Yakov’s skaters were taking him seriously as capable of being on the podium with Viktor. Triple axel came down clean, step sequence fancy… no meltdown today. Yet.

Yakov was smiling when Yuuri took his glasses back. “That should hold up for a couple groups, anyway. You’ve still got Worlds coming up, though.” For once, Yuuri didn’t pay much attention to Yakov’s lecture, waiting for his score. 87, a personal best, and way ahead of everyone else so far.

Viktor picked him up and swung him around when he got back to the holding room. “That was amazing, Yuuri! Should be good enough for you to be in the final group with me tomorrow!”

“That would be nice." Yuuri kissed Viktor's cheek. "Good luck. Today’s the day, right?”

“Today’s the day. I have a good feeling about this.”

 

Kamil was the only one in the second group to get anywhere close to Yuuri. The third group was a little more difficult. Chris came in just behind Yuuri, Aaron behind Kamil. Bin was the last skater in the group, and the one who knocked Yuuri out of first. In the fourth group, Paul snuck in between Chris and Kamil, and Georgi struggled, ending up behind Sachio, the third skater from Japan. Misha skated first in the last group, and he didn’t quite pass Bin for first, but passed Yuuri. Masato was the next-to-last skater, and he took first place away from Bin.

Viktor was last. He was very confident. Yuuri’s dream, Yuuri’s beautiful skate… today was his day. Naturally, this made it hard to get in character. What would his life be like without Yuuri? He wouldn’t be skating this heartbreak theme, he was sure. Would he even have a heart that could break? He didn’t want to know. But… it was useful. He soared through the triple axel, got huge height on his quad salchow. The flying spin that had given him so much trouble early in the season went almost perfectly. When he hit his final pose, it was all he could do to hold on long enough before breaking into a huge smile and waving to his fans.

Yakov talked. Viktor ignored. He held Yuuri’s hand while he waited for the score, and jumped to his feet when it came up. He’d done it. “91.3 for Russia's Viktor Nikiforov! Ladies and gentlemen, that is a new world record!”


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Between the Short Program and the Free Skate
> 
> Timeline: February 16-18

Team Russia took Viktor out to celebrate his world record – they couldn’t go too crazy just yet, there was still the free skate for the men and the ice dancers and ladies hadn't even started, but they could still have fun. Yuuri was declared an honorary member of Team Russia for the trip, when it became obvious Viktor wasn’t going without him.

Viktor accepted the toast with grace, but then he had a question. “Explain to me why we didn’t have one of these last night? To Lina and Tima, and their gold medal! May it be the first of four for this team.”

Everyone else hurried to join the toast. “What, you’d be upset if Yuuri took the men’s singles gold?” Tima teased.

Viktor threw an arm around Yuuri. “He’s one of us. The medal count wouldn’t show it, but we all know.”

“Japan’s taking the ladies’ gold medal.” Raisa leaned forward. “Yuuri, seeing as you’re honorary Team Russia, can you tell us the secret? How does Japan grow such monsters?”

Yuuri went beet-red and couldn't meet her eyes. “I have no idea. I wish they’d share with the men’s skaters, though.”

“They grew you!” Viktor said.

“If I’d stayed in Japan, I wouldn’t be here. Russia’s secret isn’t really a secret. Everyone knows why Russia dominates men’s skating.”

 

They had a free day between the short program and the free skate, which Yuuri and Viktor spent nearly all of with various reporters. Lots of talk about Viktor’s record, of course, and quite a bit about Yuuri’s “surprising” fifth-place standing. Viktor bristled at that. “Why is it a surprise? He’s the Four Continents gold medalist!”

“Well, it’s just… this is his first season as a senior, and the competition here is higher, no one skips the Olympics unless they’re hurt…” the reporter stammered as he tried to explain.

Viktor glared. “And if he were first or second, I might agree with you. Probably not, but I might agree. Fifth is not a surprise. First season as a senior? I won silver in my first season as a senior!”

The reporter pounced on the opportunity to get out of the hole. “If he were first, how would you feel about that?”

“There’d be a little disappointment, obviously – I’d been so close to a world record in Tokyo and Tallinn, to either miss it again or have Yuuri steal it from me would be a disappointment. But it would be completely drowned in the pride!” Viktor smiled and squeezed Yuuri’s hand. “Of course in the Free Skate I’d be coming after him with everything I had. As I expect him to do tomorrow. No one likes winning because other people failed terribly or got hurt or just handed it to them.”

“Yuuri?”

“I do want to beat Viktor someday." Viktor beamed. "Like he says… I want to beat him. I don’t want to take advantage of him beating himself.”

“Are you surprised you’re in fifth?”

“A little, yes. I knew I could make the final group, which was my goal for the short program, but there are quite a few skaters who could have beaten me and didn’t. It would take people making mistakes to put me on the podium tomorrow, but not for me to stay where I am.”

“What are the chances of you having another meltdown like you did in Canada?”

Viktor glared at the reporter, but Yuuri just shrugged. “It could happen. I don’t think it will. That was… it’s extremely unlikely that the same circumstances will reoccur.”

“Is it because Rykov isn’t here?”

Yuuri was torn between admitting the truth, that Rykov had gotten to him finally, and not giving Rykov the satisfaction. “That is part of it. I don’t expect a Canada-like meltdown at Worlds, either, and Rykov will be there.”

“Have you two decided when you’re getting married?”

It took Yuuri a moment to realize the reporter was changing the subject. Once the bile settled, he answered. “No, Viktor and I have been so busy with Olympic planning that we haven’t talked about it. The fact that we’re officially engaged still doesn’t change that we’re planning on waiting until after next year’s Worlds, to make the paperwork easier.”

 

Free Skate day was once again spent holed up in their room. This time, they invited Mila and Yuri to come watch movies with them. While they were watching Harry Potter, Yuri’s phone rang. Yuri answered. “Mama?”

Viktor hit pause quickly. Yuri didn’t say much, only giving one or two word answers, and the phone call was short. Yuri tossed the phone aside afterward, not really caring that it hit the wall beside him. “Mama will be in Moscow for my birthday.”

Viktor raised his eyebrows, and he could see the same confusion on Yuuri’s face that he felt. “Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Boris is coming too.”

That explained a lot. Viktor wanted to hug him. “At least your mama won’t be on the phone with him all the time if he’s there?” It was supposed to be a joke, but it just made Yuri’s scowl deepen. “Give it a chance, hmm, Yuri? At least she’ll be there this year.”

“She wants me to take an entire week off skating. I only have a year left before I start novices and have to start proving stuff to my sponsor. If she spends the entire week not being there again…”

Viktor bit back the smile. Yurio’s sponsorship was in no danger for as long as he needed it, but there was no way to tell him that without telling him who it was. Fortunately, there was something he could use to reassure the kid. “You know Yakov’s had people coming to him expressing interest in sponsoring you, right? He’s looked over the contracts and they’re the vultures that your mom warned you about when you first started skating, but that’s not the point. The point is that you should have no trouble getting good sponsors, when you start.”

“Not if I’m lazy and don’t get where I need to be!” Yuri folded his arms over his chest. “I don’t mind taking the vacation if she’s actually going to be there, or if it was just gonna be Grandpa and me, but it’ll be worse to have Mama there but not really there than it would if she’d forgotten again. Besides, for once, you two losers were going to be in St. Petersburg for my birthday.”

"We'll do something for you when you get back from Moscow. We promise." Yuuri restarted the movie when there was no response from Yuri.


	29. Chapter 29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Free Skate!
> 
> Timeline: February 18th, 2010

The first group in the Free Skate went as expected. Florentin broke out a bit, establishing a good lead over the rest of his group, but nothing that threatened the top skaters. The second group also had one high score, from Clarien. Georgi started off the third group with a good skate that put him in the lead for the moment, a lead that held until the end of the group, when Paul just edged him out.

Chris kicked off the final group well, taking the lead from Paul, and then it was Yuuri’s turn. He started out well, with a beautiful triple axel, but on his quad toe loop, he fell. He got back up, but struggled with his next few jumps, stumbling on a triple Lutz. He even struggled a bit with his flying camel spin, something that was normally reliable for him. Toward the end of the program, he singled a triple loop, but managed to calm himself down through the step sequence and finish strong with his final jump combo.

He was disappointed, to say the least. Yakov looked at him in concern. “You normally recover from a fall better than that. When we’re done here, I want you to go get checked out.”

“I want to…” Yuuri started to argue.

“When we’re done here. I won’t be done until after Viktor’s skated. Assuming he shuts his concern for you out as well here as he did in Canada, you can stay to watch him get his medal, but then I want you in medical. If it were bad enough you needed to go right away, we'd know by now.”

“Yes, Coach.” Yakov’s concern was justified – now that Yuuri had caught his breath, something didn’t feel quite right in his right leg. His score of 156 wasn’t good enough to beat Chris, but it did put him ahead of Paul. Misha took the lead from Chris, but not by much. Then Bin stumbled to finish behind Chris, guaranteeing Misha a medal. Masato’s skate was mesmerizing, better than Yuuri had ever seen, and he was rewarded by a huge score.

Viktor was skating last again. Even with his lead from the day before, he’d have to do very well if he wanted to beat Masato for the gold medal. Yuuri held his breath as he watched Viktor take off for the quad flip he planned. “Ooo, he put a hand down, but the rotations were there! Viktor Nikiforov, who already had a world record in the short program, just did a quad flip!” Yuuri watched and frowned at Viktor’s next jump – a triple flip instead of the quad toe loop he normally did. Viktor had been practicing with both quads in, and the extra points would have helped. It wasn’t like Viktor to lose confidence in himself or decide not to take a risk. Another mistake, this time on a triple lutz, confirmed Yuuri’s suspicion that something had rattled Viktor.

Yakov spent quite a bit of time telling Viktor about the quad flip. “Why didn’t you do the toe loop?”

Viktor shrugged. “I wasn’t sure I had it, and decided I didn’t want another mistake. I was going to try it on the last jump if I had enough strength left, but I didn’t.”

Viktor’s score put him in second by only a quarter of a point. He had silver, Misha bronze, Masato took the gold medal, and Yuuri finished in sixth overall. Viktor shrugged off the disappointment of not taking gold easily enough. “I’ll have another shot at it in four years. No one will ever be able to take the first quad flip away from me, and I’ll be around to defend my world record for some time yet!”

Viktor went with Yuuri to get checked out. As expected, they didn’t find anything major wrong with Yuuri’s leg, but there was a giant bruise on his leg, and he’d strained his right knee. “Take it easy for the rest of the Olympics. Wrap it or wear a brace, and try to stay off of it as much as you can. Get it checked out before you get back on the ice, but you should be good to compete by Worlds. Come back if it doesn’t get better. Viktor, you’ll keep an eye on him and make sure he’s actually resting it?”

“Of course. I think we were spending most of tomorrow doing interviews anyway, I’m sure the photographers will be happy to work around it and let him pose in a way that doesn’t put pressure on the knee.” Viktor got Yuuri up on his back for a piggyback ride, over Yuuri’s protests.

 

Yuuri and Viktor joined the rest of Team Japan to Masato out for dinner to celebrate his gold medal. “One for Russia, one for Japan,” Tamae said. “Ice dance, Japan is out of, so it’s up to me, Yuuko, and Iona to bring home a second gold.”

“Good luck! I hope you manage it,” Viktor said. “Three skaters in the top fifteen, including the gold medal, is amazing! I bet the three of you can repeat that.”

“Silver, bronze, and eighth place, though. Yakov’s hold on the top of men’s skating is quite safe.” Masato started to drink, but stopped. “Forgive me, I misspoke. Silver, bronze, sixth, and eighth. If I’m giving the credit to Yakov over Russia, I should include Yuuri.”

“Yes. You should. I appreciate your correction.” Viktor grinned as Yuuri hid his face in his hands. “I am so proud of him! I’m looking forward to the day he beats me.”

“If he hadn’t fallen on that toe loop… I don’t think you’d have medaled, Yuuri, but you might have been fourth.” Yuuko patted his shoulder. “I heard that you went to medical… are you going to be okay for Worlds?”

“They think so. I hope so. I don’t want to withdraw and listen to Rykov go on about how I’m scared to face him again after he beat me in Canada.” Rykov wouldn't accept injury as an excuse. He'd just taunt Yuuri even more for hurting himself.


	30. Chapter 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasha finally talks to Viktor.
> 
> Timeline: February 19/20, 2010

As Viktor had thought, the next day as taken up with yet more interviews, photoshoots, and sponsor meetings. Viktor insisted on carrying Yuuri from one meeting to the next. Yuuri tried to protest that he had crutches and could walk – this was the Olympics, they could provide quite decent medical care. Viktor ignored it all. “Of course you could, but why should you? I have an excuse to give you rides!”

The sponsor meetings were weird. Yakov wasn’t there – Mila had a competition coming up soon and Yakov had taken her back to St. Petersburg to prepare for it, while Lilia took Yuri to Moscow – so Yuuri got to handle them on his own. Viktor was there to give advice, but he wouldn’t overrule Yuuri’s decisions. When it was Viktor dealing with sponsors, Yuuri tried not to listen in unless his name came up.

They finished with their last appointment – an interview that focused almost entirely on Viktor and his second Olympic silver – in time to go watch the ice dancing with Georgi, Chris, and Kamil. Kirill and Katya were the favorites to win gold, with Georgi’s girlfriend Anya and her partner Christov expected to medal as well. “Masumi says they’re voting on a change to the competition format for next year… instead of the compulsory and original dances, they’ll have a short dance. He’s hoping it goes through.”

“Anya’s said something about that… Kirill and Katya aren’t happy with the idea, but that’s because they’re so good at the compulsory and original. Free dance is their weakest.”

Viktor nodded. “I can see why they’d want to eliminate it though… it’s kind of boring watching everyone do pretty much the same thing. The TV networks want viewers, and people aren’t going to be watching this.”

 

There was no skating the next day. Viktor and Yuuri had planned to use it to go out exploring Vancouver. Yuuri still wanted to go, but Viktor didn’t like him going out on crutches. “You’re supposed to be resting.”

“You’ve never let that stop you, have you?”

“I’ve let it slow me down! We’ve got another week here, the press attention has slowed down so we’re free... there’s no hurry.”

Eventually, they compromised. Go to the aquarium, and when Yuuri started getting tired, find a theater and watch a movie. Shopping could wait until Yuuri’s knee was better. They put out a call to various friends, and ended up with a large group heading out to go look at some fish. They split up at the movies – some of the group wanted to see the romantic comedy _Valentine’s Day_ , while others chose the remake of _Wolfman_ , and a few went to see _Percy Jackson_. Yuuri and Viktor chose _Wolfman_ , where Yuuri was very amused by Viktor pretending to be terrified as an excuse to be all over Yuuri – who certainly wasn’t going to call him on it. Not that Viktor needed the excuse.

After the movie, Viktor checked his phone to find several texts from Sasha. She wanted to meet up with him and Yuuri – just them – for dinner. Yuuri raised an eyebrow. “She’s in Vancouver?”

“Apparently. Should we go?”

“Of course! Text her back, say we’ll be there.”

 

Sasha met them both with hugs. “Congratulations, both of you! Yuuri, how’s the knee?”

“It’s sore, but healing. Viktor’s making sure I don’t push too hard.”

“Good. I’m sure you’re wondering why I didn’t tell you I was here…”

“We are. I could have gotten you in on some of the publicity I’ve been doing, one of them even asked if you were here!”

Sasha laughed at that. “Well. I’m sorry about that. I came to watch you, both days, but I didn’t want you to know I was here because you’d have been bugging me about my soulmate.”

“So what’s changed?”

“You’re done skating. You’re not going to like this, and I didn’t want it messing with you on the ice.”

“I don’t have to like it. Your soulmate is who it is, you didn’t get to choose, so what’s wrong?”

“Valera’s not… he’s a jerk to you guys. I know that. You’ve got good reasons to not like him.”

Yuuri looked blankly at Viktor, who shrugged. Neither of them recognized the name. Viktor turned back to Sasha. “You like him? That’s what’s going to matter.”

“I don’t know. There’s more to him than the public persona. You know how that goes, Viktor. He’s not… I’m hoping that when we meet in person in August, I’ll get to see the guy I met in the dream, not the guy I know from the press.”

“So he’s famous?” Yuuri tried to think who it could be.

“Not exactly. He’s sort of tied his press to you, and by extension Viktor, and he’s struggling to figure out how to get out of that without having to admit defeat.”

“Wait a minute.” Viktor was staring at Sasha, disgust all over his face. “Your soulmate is Valery Rykov?”

“See? I told you you wouldn’t like it.”

“You’re right, I don’t… but I’m not the one who has to.” Viktor took a huge gulp of water while he processed. “Aside from laying off him in the press, how can I help you make this work?”

Sasha blinked, water glass halfway to her mouth. “You… want to help me? I thought you’d be trying to talk me out of meeting him in August.”

Viktor shook his head. “You weren’t with Mama and Papa nearly as long as I was, but I know they must have given you the same talks about soulmates as I got when I was a kid. You were there when Mama was dying, and she made us both promise to take our soulmates seriously and give them every chance before giving up on them. One of the last conversations I had with Papa was about soulmates, and how even when things appeared to make no sense, there was always a reason for them.”

“Yuuri? You’ve got even more reason to hate him…”

“I’ve got even less reason to interfere with your choices than Viktor does. I’ll do my best to ignore him, to keep my comments about him short and neutral. If he turns out to be just as big an asshole privately as he is in the press, I’ll get you in contact with my sister, she can give you some advice for how to get a soulmate out of your life if you get to the point where that’s what you want.”

Sasha chuckled. “I’ve already talked to her. She offered to come kick his ass any time I want.”

“Since when are you and Mari friends?”

“Since Worlds last year. Anyway, I liked what I saw in the dream enough to give this a chance. You’re both okay with that…?”

Yuuri nodded. Viktor smiled. “I hope it works out for you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *hides*


	31. Chapter 31

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Olympics continue! Yuuri makes a realization that disturbs him.
> 
> Timeline: mid-February 2010

The ice dancing continued the next day. The original dance was less repetitive than the compulsory dance, but Viktor still much preferred watching figure skating as he knew it. The free dance was much more to Viktor’s liking. An American couple ended up with the gold, Kirill and Katya took silver, and to Chris’s great delight, Masumi and Jolanda got the bronze after a mesmerizing free dance.

The next morning, Yuuri and Viktor went to hang out with Yuuko. Takeshi had called them after Yuuko threw up, asking what he should do. “I want to see her skate, but if she’s sick… it’s better to withdraw, right?”

“It could just be nerves… I remember the first time I went to a real competition, I spent half the morning throwing up,” Yuuri said. “It’s not like an alternate’s going to take her place if she withdraws now, so may as well wait and see how she feels this afternoon.”

“Oh. Okay. Good point.” Takeshi sighed. “I’m just worried, you know? This isn’t the first time. We’ve been blaming the nerves and the stress of all the publicity and the harder training, but what if there’s something wrong?”

“If it’ll make you feel better, get her over to medical. Just to be sure.”

“Thanks!”

Yuuko refused to go. She swore she’d be fine by the time she had to skate. “How about you just distract me? How’s wedding thinking going?”

“Slowly, we’ve been so locked into Olympics thinking.” Yuuri looked to Viktor. “You good to do some brainstorming now?”

“Sure! I was thinking… I don’t have family other than Sasha, so the actual wedding, we should probably do the ceremony in Hasetsu. Then we can do a celebration in Russia, and… what?” Viktor cut off as a look of horror crossed Yuuri’s face.

“We have to invite Rykov. If there was one person I did not want at my wedding…” Yuuri shuddered, and Viktor made a face of disgust. “I’m going to inform Sasha that she needs to keep him well-behaved or leave him out. Think she’ll be offended?”

“No. She knows he’s an asshat. Are we inviting Kokei?”

“I’m not planning on it.”

“You might check with Mari. They’ve been talking through social media.” Yuuri and Viktor both stared at Takeshi in shock. “I don’t think they’re getting back together. Just kind of making friends.”

“They’re not getting back together. Kokei’s dating some girl in Sendai,” Yuuko clarified.

“Huh.” Yuuri shook his head. “I’ll talk to Mari, but unless she specifically wants him invited for some reason, I don’t see any reason why we should. It’s not like we’re going to be desperately looking for enough people to fill a guest list.”

 

Planning kept them busy until it was time for Yuuko to head for the rink, and then there was skating to watch. Yuuko had drawn early, and her 65 gave her a nice lead after the second group. She wasn’t challenged until the fourth group, when Iona and Skye both got in the sixties, and after the final group, she was in fourth. Tamae had the lead, followed by a Korean skater and a Finnish skater. Skye was in seventh, and Iona eighth.

Takeshi had a massive hug for her. “Feeling better now? You’re in fourth! Japan’s gonna be happy about that.”

“Now I have something to defend in the free skate,” Yuuko countered. “Plus a day of media attention in between. You remember how stressful that was at Four Continents. At least no one’s going to ask me about beating Tamae…”

“You’ll survive, and you’ll do well in the free skate. Saila’s free skate isn’t that great, and you beat Kang Hee at Four Continents, right?”

“I beat Tamae at Nationals. Kang Hee is a great skater. And then there are the people below me… can’t count them out.”

 

Yuuri’s knee still wasn’t healed, but it was enough better that Viktor agreed that it was time for a shopping trip – as long as Yuuri promised to find somewhere to sit down the second he started feeling any signs of tiredness or weakness. As usual, Viktor went a little nuts, spending money freely on himself, Yuuri, Yurio, and whoever else he saw something that would be a good present for. Yuuri tried, as always, to rein him in.

“Yuuri, you were in the sponsor meetings, you know I’m pulling in enough money to cover my costs for skating and then some. Between that and a good accountant to handles investments and taxes and such, I nearly always keep up by making more than I spend.”

“That’s…”

“I know it’s not the point. I just thought it would help to know that it’s sustainable. If I don’t spend this money here, on you, or whoever, it’ll just sit around doing nothing.”

“Are you going to keep sponsoring Yurio?”

“As long as he needs it. Eventually, he’ll get up here, and as long as he doesn’t get hurt or anything, he’ll be in our position where he gets everything he needs from sponsors and prize money and doesn’t need me.”

“What are you gonna do if he starts asking about the publicity he’s expecting to have to do for his mysterious sponsor? It’s gonna freak him out if it continues to be a freebie…”

Viktor shrugged. “Yakov and my accountant have some ideas if it comes to that. I’m hoping it doesn’t but if it does…”

 

Yuuko managed not to get sick again the day of the free skate, to Takeshi’s relief – but also concern. She was nervous, which is what she’d said was causing it, so why not today?

Skye was in second behind a Canadian skater, Marian Hall, when Yuuko took the ice. Yuuko’s skating was shaky at first, but eventually, she settled down and skated beautifully. It was good enough to beat Skye, but not Marian. As Takeshi had said, Saila struggled with the free skate, but Kang Hee and Tamae held on to their first and second place finishes. Yuuko was fourth, Skye fifth.


	32. Chapter 32

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's baby time!
> 
> (Sort of. Protobaby time. There will be no babies this chapter. Just a lot of baby talk.)
> 
> Timeline: end of February-March 1, 2010

Yuuri returned to medical the morning of the final day. He was cleared for normal activity – but advised not to walk in the closing ceremony Parade of Nations. That was fine with him. He could sit in the stands with Takeshi and watch his friends march. Tamae was carrying the flag for Japan, so Yuuko would be right up front. “How is she?”

Takeshi shook his head. “Throwing up again this morning. When we get back to Japan, if she’s still throwing up, I’m going to take her to the doctor. The nerves should be gone. She’s been to Worlds before, and there’s less pressure this time since they use Olympic results to determine slots in next year’s Worlds.”

Sasha leaned forward around Yuuri. “This is probably a dumb question, but you have made her take a pregnancy test, right?”

“No, she… she can’t be pregnant.” Takeshi paled. “Can she?”

Yuuri buried his face in his hands. “I don’t want to know. I really don’t. But you guys are having sex… aren’t you?”

“Well, yeah, we’re married…”

“Are you using protection?” Sasha asked.

“Of course we’re using protection! The only time we didn’t was when I had my dream, and that was almost a year ago, and you can’t get pregnant from dream sex anyway, and oh my god what if I forgot one time because that’s all it took and now her career is screwed up before she was ready and I’m a horrible soulmate?”

Yuuri smacked Takeshi’s head. “Takeshi. You are not a horrible soulmate. Kokei was a horrible soulmate and I should probably give thanks more often that he never managed to get Mari pregnant. You made a mistake. Or something broke, or slipped. And that’s _if_ Sasha’s right and Yuuko is pregnant. Maybe she’s right, it’s just nerves, and going out and being in the parade was enough after all the stress of the last two months to set her off.”

 

Yakov wasn’t there when Yuuri and Viktor got back, gone with Mila to her competition. Lidia insisted on checking out Yuuri’s knee before letting him back on the ice, despite being cleared at the Olympics, but she didn’t find anything and Yuuri went out to practice. Just to be safe, he downgraded his jumps to doubles, but everything felt good.

After practice, he got a call from Yuuko. Her voice was shaking. “Takeshi made me take a pregnancy test.”

“And?”

“And it’s positive. I’m pregnant.”

Yuuri let out a long breath. “Well, I know you wanted kids eventually, but not yet. So congratulations and condolences both, I guess? Any idea how far along you are?”

“No. Takeshi’s always been so good about making sure we were protected, I can’t remember him ever forgetting…” Yuuko took a couple of deep breaths. “I can’t remember for sure about my period either. I know I had one right before Nationals, but I can’t remember one since then…”

“Wow. So possibly… what, ten weeks?” Ten weeks of high stress, lots of activity, probably several falls on the ice... Yuuri was impressed with Yuuko for only having some stomach problems.

“Possibly. I don’t know. Takeshi and my mom are taking me to the doctor tomorrow." Yuuko's voice started shaking even more, and Yuuri could hear the tears in it. "I can’t believe this, just barely pregnant and I’m already a terrible mother, ignoring symptoms and skating in the Olympics while pregnant and not having any idea how old my kid is!”

Yuuri held back the urge to laugh. Laughter would not help Yuuko. “You didn’t ignore symptoms, you just guessed wrong about what was causing them.”

“Yuuri, I kind of… I’m mad at my kid. I won’t be able to train properly this summer, which means I won’t be able to skate next Grand Prix, maybe not even Nationals, I’m going to lose a whole season. And that’s if I don’t just retire. Coming back after pregnancy? It’s hard.”

“How’s your mom feel about this?”

Yuuko laughed weakly. “She’s thrilled, of course. She knows Takeshi supported my skating, but now she gets a grandchild to love and spoil. If it’s a girl, I’m not sure how much I’m going to let her…”

“Good idea. Your mom was kind of… crazy… with you.”

“I know! Takeshi’s apologized a million times already.”

“You know, you could just terminate the pregnancy. If you and Takeshi aren’t ready…”

“We could, but... I’m at least going to wait until after I’ve seen the doctor. I do want kids, and I kind of already want this one? Even if I’m terrified. And I don’t know if I can mom yet.”

“How do Takeshi’s parents feel about this?”

“His dad’s kind of disappointed because of skating, but his mom and his brother are both excited. I told Mari and your parents, too. Your mom’s already promised that she’ll babysit any time I need, and that my children are as good as grandchildren to her.”

“Yeah, that sounds like Mom.”

“I’ll have lots of help. I’m not worried about that.”

“You know I’ll do whatever I can to help you out." Not that there was much he could do. He was in Russia, he couldn't babysit or help Yuuko skate or even be there to give her a hug. "Have you told your sponsors?”

“No, I’m waiting until after I’ve seen the doctor and decided whether I’m going through with this for sure.”

“If you end up needing help, that’s one thing I can do from here.”

“I know. I’ll let you know.”

 

He’d just hung up with Yuuko when his phone rang again. “Yuri! Hi! Happy birthday!”

“Thanks. Glad you remembered.”

Uh-oh. This was not a happy kitten. “I was going to call you. I swear.”

“Huh? No, that… Viktor already called. I know you guys didn’t forget.”

“Oh. Your mom?” Irina and Boris had gotten to Moscow, Yuuri knew. So...

“She’s here. She decided that my birthday would be the perfect time to tell me I’m getting a little sister this summer.”

“You’re… your mom’s pregnant?”

“Yep. Due in June. Boris’s kid. Stupid Boris.”

“Wow." If Mari called and said she was pregnant too, Yuuri was going to die. "Are you okay?”

“Not really. It’s one more reason for her not to show her face in Moscow ever again. Grandpa’s already made it clear that he cannot take care of a baby, not anymore, so Mama can’t just dump her off here, and no one’s dumb enough to think I could do it.”

“Was she really expecting to dump the baby with your grandfather…?” Yuuri couldn't imagine it, but then again, he couldn't imagine a mom treating her kid like Irina treated Yuri.

“She says she wasn’t, that she and Boris have a place in New York City, but not sure why I should believe her. Is it mean of me to hope the kid can’t skate or do anything like this so Mama can’t dump her off with a coach?”

“Yuri, your mom didn’t just dump you.”

“No, but she barely tried to stay in contact once she signed the paperwork for me to stay with Yakov.”

“Does she want you to go to New York with her?” Yuuri didn't know whether to hope for that or not. It would probably be a good thing for Yuri, getting to live with his mom, and America had good coaches, but Yuuri was selfish. He'd miss the angry little kitten around the rink.

“No. She says it’s because she doesn’t think my sponsor will follow me, but I think it’s Boris.”

“Well… she might be right about the sponsor.” Yuuri wasn’t sure what Viktor would do about that. Or if Yuri’s new coach would understand.

“Doesn’t matter. I’m staying with Yakov.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... yeah. Most of y'all called Yuuko's pregnancy. Several of y'all caught on about Boris being more than just a manager. I have smart readers. :D


	33. Chapter 33

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More baby drama in the runup to Worlds.

As it turned out, there was one more pregnancy to be announced. Misha came into practice super excited because Emiliya had just told him she was pregnant, due in September. This one, there were no complications: Emiliya’s career was much more compatible with pregnancy, and there weren’t older children to feel betrayed or abandoned. It did cause a bit of a problem when Yuri got back from Moscow – when he heard, Yuri snapped out a crack about not letting Emiliya cook for the kid if they wanted it to live. Misha was furious and refused to work with Yuri until Viktor intervened and told Misha what had happened with Irina.

Yuuri was very glad to have that tension gone by the time Mila and Yakov got home with Mila’s gold medal, which she brought to the rink for kisses despite Yakov's noisy protests of wasting time with silliness. With Yakov back, they could focus and get ready for Worlds. Georgi spent most of his time babysitting the two young ones and pointing and laughing at the others. “Silver lining to being the alternate: early offseason. “

“You’re still coming, though?”

“Of course, Anya’s competing, and I want to at least be present for the Feltsman World Medal Sweep.”

“What?” Yuuri squeaked and jumped. “What medal sweep?”

“You, Viktor, and Misha. Not necessarily in that order. You can do it, so… do it!” Georgi winked and headed out to correct Yuri’s attempt at a double salchow.

“Nice as that would be, I don’t expect it to happen this year. Relax, Yuuri.” Yakov glared at Georgi. “You know better. What was that?”

“He can get on the podium! You know that.”

“And you can land a quad salchow. So do it.” Georgi flushed a bit but skated away from Yuri to start working on his quad. Yakov turned back to Yuuri. “I don’t want you thinking about the medals unless you end up with one already around your neck. I want you landing that quad toe loop cleanly. Let the medals sort themselves out, you just focus on what you can control.”

“Yes, coach.” Yuuri would certainly try.

 

The next day, Yakov summoned Yuuri off the ice and handed him his phone. “Your sister. Any idea what it’s about?”

“No, but she knows better than to call unless it’s important. I was about to leave for school anyway…”

Yakov nodded. “Fair enough. Let me know if it’s anything I need to know about.”

Yuuri took the phone and called Mari back. “Hi, Mari. What’s wrong?”

“Yuuko’s locked herself in her room. Takeshi’s on the ice and won’t talk to me. Or anyone. Their parents are freaking out.”

“Takeshi’s skating?” Not that Takeshi couldn’t skate, just it wasn’t usually his thing. When he was worried or needed to get something out, he usually hit the gym or went running.

“He’s got skates on, but he’s just sitting out in the middle of the rink. I know I’m interrupting your practice, but we thought maybe they’d talk to you if you called them. I know Yuuko has her phone in her room with her. I’m not sure if Takeshi has his.”

Yuuri nodded, then remembered Mari couldn’t see it. “I’ll try. Is there anything I should know first? Any guesses what may have caused this? Are they fighting?”

“I’m thinking this has something to do with the baby. It started when Yuuko got back from her ultrasound.”

“Oh no. Thanks, Mari.” Yuuri hung up and took a few minutes to compose himself after his brain presented him with several scenarios of things that could have gone wrong with the baby. After a quick debate on who to try first, he decided on Yuuko. She’d been his friend longer.

Yuuko picked up, and her voice sounded awful. Like she’d been scrubbing her throat with sandpaper. “Yuuri? Shouldn’t you be practicing?”

“Yes, but you’ve got everyone freaked out enough that they called me. What’s wrong, Yuuko?” Yuuko started sobbing loudly enough for Yuuri to hear it through the phone. “Is something wrong with the baby?”

The sobs changed, becoming a kind of hysterical laugh. “Which one?”

“Your baby.”

“Which one?” The laughter trailed off. “Axel, Loop, or Lutz?”

Yuuri was beginning to regret not calling Takeshi first. He was also beginning to question whether Yuuko needed another doctor. “Yuuko, those are skating jumps.”

“They’re also what I’m calling my triplets for now.”

“You… did you say TRIPLETS?” Yuuri’s voice squeaked on the last word. “There’s three of them?”

“There’s three of them. They’re guessing ten weeks. Takeshi’s got a theory, they’re gold medal babies. From Nationals. If there were just one baby, I’d be due at the end of September, but with three, I probably won’t make it through August." Yuuri was speechless. In a tiny voice that Yuuri could barely hear, Yuuko added, "What do I do after that?”

Yuuri had no idea. “There’s three sets of grandparents, lots of aunts and uncles, and Takeshi to help you out. You’ll be fine. It's not like you're trying to do this alone.”

“But skating, Yuuri! How am I supposed to skate and raise triplets? I can’t just stick Takeshi with all three of them all by himself!”

“I don’t know. Talk to Nishigori and Minako, they may have suggestions? Talk to Takeshi, for sure.”

Yuuko's sobs started again. “I’m so scared, Yuuri. One baby, I was just starting to think maybe I could do. Now there’s three.”

“And you’re naming them after skating jumps.”

Yuuko giggled a little. “Those aren’t going to be their names. It’s just a placeholder. Until they can tell me boys or girls. Give me some credit.”

“At least you’re not using Toe Loop.”

“No, that was the last choice. You really think I can do this?”

“I know you can be a mom. I hope you can skate, too, but I have no idea. I’ve never really been around pregnant skaters.”

Yuuko took a couple of very deep breaths. “Okay. Thanks, Yuuri. I should probably go out and tell people…”


	34. Chapter 34

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shopping before Worlds
> 
> Timeline: late March 2010

Mari and Minako met them at the airport in Turin. Yuuri ran over to hug them. “I didn’t know you guys were coming!”

Mari shrugged. “I needed a break from hearing about babies. Besides, I barely got to come last year and between Yuuko’s triplets and getting things done for your wedding next year, I probably won’t get to come then.” Yuuri tried to protest, but Mari cut him off. “I know. You haven’t officially set the date and you’re not going to make me deal with everything, but come on. Sure you’re young, but you and Viktor will be ready for it by then, so why wouldn’t you get it over with?”

“I was more protesting why you thought we’d make you do everything to get it ready…” Yuuri said.

Mari shrugged. “Yuuko said you were gonna do at least part of it in Hasetsu. I’m in Hasetsu. Fewer things for you to worry about while you’re trying to focus on Worlds. You’re not making me do anything, I’m volunteering my services to my little brother and his fiancé.”

Minako took her turn to hug Yuuri. “Thanks for talking some sense into Yuuko. I don’t know skaters, but I can’t imagine it’s that much different from returning to ballet after having a kid, and I know someone who knows a woman who makes a living at coaching dancers and such through pregnancy and the first year after birth. She’s never had a client with triplets, but she’s done a few twins.”

“That’s good to hear.” Even if she didn't come back competitively, Yuuko would be happier if she could at least stay on the ice. Takeshi already had plans to capitalize on his wife's status as an Olympian to advertise skating lessons at the Ice Castle.

“And of course you can count on me for any wedding stuff you need done, too. Next spring’s going to be so much fun in Hasetsu.”

 

Shopping in Turin was different from usual. Sure, there were the usual fancy clothing stores, where Viktor went nuts, and pet boutiques, where all of them went nuts. Even Chris went nuts. He and Masumi were planning to adopt a cat right after Worlds, and Chris was determined to spoil the cat.

Chris and Masumi balked a little when Viktor headed toward a baby store. “You two are already thinking kids?”

“No. No, no, no, Chris, can you imagine us with a kid right now?” Viktor said.

Chris stuck his tongue out at Viktor. “Don’t play the pampered prince with me, Viktor, I know better. When you love someone, you go over the top taking care of them. You do great with Makkachin and Yuri, why would anyone think you’d do any less for your own kid?”

“The kids aren’t ours. They belong to friends. Or in one case someone we don’t think much of but is family anyway and I’m petty enough to want to be better than her.” Viktor headed into the store, Yuuri right behind him.

Masumi ended up playing the voice of reason there. “I don’t care how many babies Yuuko is having, Yuuri, she is not going to need fifteen baby hats.” “Viktor, they are babies, these clothes are going to get pooped on, among other things. They do not need designer labels.” “Chris, we are getting a cat, not a baby, we do not need a rubber duckie!”

“The duckie is for me!”

Masumi just rolled his eyes. “Fine. Whatever. Yuuri, no, it is too soon to be buying baby food for any of them! Milk only for the first few months.”

 

After they got back at the hotel and started sorting through things, Viktor had a question for Yuuri. “You don’t seem to mind spending money on the dogs, or now the babies.”

“No…”

“So why the big deal about me spending money on you?”

Yuuri went a little red. “That’s different. That’s… that’s me.”

“I don’t understand, though. In both cases, I’m showing my love for someone with presents. I know perfectly well that Makkachin doesn’t need a new leash, and she really doesn’t care what color her supper dish is as long as her supper goes in it.”

“But they get so excited when we bring them new toys! It’s adorable!” Yuuri stared at the baby hat he was holding. “I don’t know how to explain it. Dogs and babies are just… they’re different. I don’t go nuts shopping for Mari or Phichit…”

“It’s not about you feeling like you don’t deserve it, is it?”

“No. That was part of it at first, but at this point, I know that even if I really don’t deserve things there’s no convincing you of that, so I can shut my anxiety off by reminding it of that.”

“Good.” Viktor got up to wrap his arms around Yuuri and press a kiss into his hair. “How weird is it that our sisters are hanging out?” Mari and Sasha had gone off with Minako, Lilia, and Mila on a girls-only shopping trip.

“Not really weird at all? What’s going to be weird is dealing with Rykov knowing what’s coming.” Yuuri got a mischievous look on his face. “Would it be unsportsmanlike for me to go over to him tomorrow while we’re waiting to skate and treat him like a friend?”

Viktor giggled. “How is being friendly supposed to be unsportsmanlike? Sasha won’t want you to tell people he’s about to become as good as family, but you can always say that with the two of you on the verge of turning eighteen you thought it was time to set aside childish rivalries and move on…”

“Heh. I’ll think about it. Need to see how I sleep tonight and where my head is in the morning before I consider anything like that. Have you heard anything from Misha about how shopping with Yuri went?”

“Good. Better than he’d feared. They took a break to go to a pet store and look at the cats. I think they’ve mended things from the fight. Oh, Misha sent me a picture of a present Yuri picked out for his sister!” Viktor found the photo of the tiger-striped baby blanket. “And then insisted on getting two, so that Misha’s baby could have one.”


	35. Chapter 35

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short Program and Operation Kill Rykov With Kindness begins!
> 
> Timeline: March 24, 2010

The early group started very early, and Yuuri was very grateful that he was not in it. His group didn’t have to be at the rink until the afternoon. Once he was checked in, he went to find Rykov. “Hi. Good luck today.”

Rykov jumped, a bit startled by Yuuri's approach. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why are you wishing me luck?”

“Why not? Just because I’m not really part of Team Russia doesn’t mean I can’t wish them well. You’re representing Russia, therefore I hope you do well.”

“Riiiight.” Rykov gave him a funny look and moved away.

Yuuri went back to Viktor and Misha, who were trying not to laugh. “How’d it go?” Misha asked.

“He’s weirded out.”

Viktor grinned. “You going to lecture us, Papa? Tell us to behave ourselves?”

Misha made a face at him. “Don’t call me Papa, that’s just weird. As far as I can see, you are behaving yourselves. Especially you, since he’s Team Russia like us.”

“Good!” Viktor wandered off. When he came back, he was smirking. “He told me to fuck off and let him concentrate. I told him that was no way to talk to a teammate.”

“Are you boys messing with Rykov?” Yakov demanded, having arrived just then.

“We’re just showing good sportsmanship and wishing him luck today!” Viktor said. “It’s not our fault if he’s so paranoid and sensitive he can’t just accept our good wishes and move along.”

Yakov buried his face in his hands. “You are giving that boy too much power. How’s it going over here? Warming up going good, aside from childish distractions?”

“Yep. We’ll be ready. Don’t worry about us!”

 

There weren’t any breakout scores from the morning groups. Jude Hartman of Australia did a lot better than anyone expected him to, but not threatening the top skaters, and Kishi Ichizo had the lead after six of the eight groups had competed. Rykov took it from him, skating cleanly despite his weird day. It didn’t last long, as Paul skated right after him and took the top spot from him. Kaleb and Clarien both did reasonably well, Kamil put forth the best skate so far and shot up to the top. The group ended on a bad note, as Aaron struggled and dropped way down in the standings.

Yuuri was very glad not to be first in his group. Hopefully, he’d be okay by the time his turn came up. Cao Bin didn’t let Aaron’s struggles rattle him, and he started the group off well. Viktor was second. It wasn’t as magical as the Olympics had been, but his first two jumps went fine, the flying spin went almost perfectly, and the rest of his skate stayed clean. He didn’t beat his score from the Olympics, but if he hadn’t set the record then, he’d have set it here with his 90.8.

Chris got the unenviable job of trying to follow Viktor. His skate was clean, but not great, and he ended up in fourth behind Kamil. Yuuri’s turn came, and he started off strong with his combo spin. His jumps were clean, and he could feel the love sweeping him across the galaxy with his spins and step sequences. The triple axel came down clean, and even for him, his final step sequence was amazingly smooth. Yuuri couldn’t believe the skate he had as he skated over to Yakov.

Yakov was smiling. There was no mistaking the pride as he started going through some very picky technical criticisms. “I know Viktor’s a bad influence, but you might want to consider keeping this one another year. You do it well and it’s definitely a crowd-pleaser, and there’s room for tweaking to make it stronger.”

“I’ll think about it. It would be one less thing to worry about this summer.” Inside, Yuuri was screaming. He’d never heard such a thing from Yakov. The scream escaped when his score popped up – very close to 90. That put him in second, and set a personal best for him.

The joy fled quickly after he joined Viktor to watch the last two skaters. Masato was struggling, and touched a hand to the ice on his triple axel. His score put him in sixth and Misha still had to skate. Misha did better than Masato had, but not as well as he could have, and he ended up in fourth. Viktor was first, Yuuri second, Bin third.

 

Misha wasn’t too bothered by his fourth-place standing. “I can come back tomorrow. Yuuri, I’m so proud of you, you did great! That was a beautiful skate.”

“Thanks! I don’t expect to hold on. You’ll beat me tomorrow, I’m sure of it.”

Misha shook his head. “I don’t know. If you skate like you did today, you might hold on for silver. If Viktor messes up…”

“Vitya’s not going to mess up,” Yuuri said.

“Mistakes happen, Yuuri. Even to me!” Viktor winked. “I think the nice reporters might like to ask us a few questions, though?”

Yuuri and Misha both chuckled and turned their attention to the reporters. “Yuuri, you said you don’t think you’ll hold on. Why not?”

“I’m where I am today after having one of the best skates I’ve ever had and several strong skaters struggling, like Hokama-san or Aaron. Misha and Bin can both easily beat me tomorrow. Unless I have another skate like I did today, I don’t expect to be on the podium.”

“Viktor, do you agree?”

“Yuuri can make the podium. It won’t be easy, but he can. He’s right, though, there’s certainly no reason for him to feel ashamed if he misses it.”

“Rykov did well. He’s currently ninth. What do you think of that?”

Yuuri and Viktor looked at each other. Yuuri had to fight back his first thought, that Georgi would have done better. “I think that Russia must be extremely pleased with how their skaters did today. Rykov’s skate was very good, and I wish him the best of luck tomorrow. I’m sure Russia would be thrilled to have all three of their skaters in the top 10.”

“I know that Misha and I miss our rinkmate Georgi, but Rykov has proved to be quite capable of maintaining Russia’s standard of excellence,” Viktor added.


	36. Chapter 36

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Family Drama and Free Skate!
> 
> Timeline: 24-25 March 2010

Sasha got hold of them just outside the hotel as they were leaving for dinner. “What was that?”

“What was what?” Viktor exchanged glances with Yuuri, who was equally confused what Sasha wanted.

“That interview, complimenting Rykov. You didn’t mean it, so…”

Viktor grinned. “Sasha! You’re an athlete hoping to make the Olympics in two years. Press training: you do not say bad things about your colleagues, especially when they’re on your team, no matter what you really think of them. Even in figure skating where the team doesn’t really do anything as a team.”

Sasha crossed her arms and glared at Viktor. “So this has nothing to do with anything else?”

“The interview had nothing to do with anything else. It was all about putting on a good look for the media and the RSF.” Viktor winked. “That we were nice to him during the competition, well… that may be a different story.”

“Oh my god. Vitya. Do not be an asshole to my soulmate!”

Viktor pouted as Yuuri snickered. “I just said we were nice! How is that being an asshole?”

“You know perfectly well how he’s going to take it!” Sasha stomped a foot. “Just don’t be too over the top about it? And yes, I realize this is you, over the top is what you do, but… I’m going to have to deal with him, and it’ll be easier to convince him to not be a complete jerk to you guys if you aren’t completely horrible to him.”

“Again, we’re being nice,” Yuuri protested. “If he chooses to interpret that badly, that’s… kind of on him, don’t you think?”

“Not with the history you two have.” Sasha sighed and let her arms drop to her sides. “At the very least, it’s good practice for you dorks faking being nice to him if we do end up getting together.”

“That’s even a question?”

Sasha threw up her hands. “Yes, that’s a question, I’m going to give him a chance but he’s not us, he may not take it because of my association with the two of you!”

 

Yuuri didn’t sleep well the night between the short program and free skate, even with Viktor cuddles and kisses helping. It was better than it would have been without Viktor – not that Yuuri would be at Worlds, not without Viktor. It wasn’t just the coaching, although the coaching helped a lot. It was the team, the support Yuuri found himself surrounded with. It was Viktor’s enthusiasm and unflagging belief infecting him. Yuuri’s anxiety was still telling him there was no way he medaled today, but he could accept that his anxiety might not be an expert.

While they waited, Yuuri headed for Rykov again. “Hey, I have a question for you.”

Rykov side-eyed him, but nodded. “What?”

“When’s your birthday?”

Rykov blinked, and then his face twisted. “Oh god. If we’re soulmates, that’s going to suck. August 14th. Yours?”

Yuuri had not expected Rykov to think of that, and his stomach flipped. “November 29th. I’m really hoping we’re not soulmates, too. Good luck today.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

 

The results from the first two groups were mostly as expected. Aaron didn’t recover and do better. He actually ended up losing ground, prompting speculation that he was injured or pushing through exhaustion after the Olympics. In group 3, Kishi Ichizo struggled a bit, dropping behind Australia’s surprise star. Rykov’s skate went mostly well, but not well enough, as he dropped behind Kaleb Hagel. Masato also continued to not look as sharp as he had in the Olympics, and Paul moved up a spot to beat him.

Viktor hugged Yuuri after warmups. “You okay?”

“I asked Rykov when his birthday is and ended up disturbing us both. Just need to finish shaking it off is all.”

“Hmm… oh. That would be weird. Both of you have other soulmates, so it’s unlikely, at least.”

Chris started things off, skating quite well. Kamil couldn’t quite catch him. Yuuri and Viktor walked out with Misha, who ended up making a couple of small mistakes. Not the clean performance he’d need to medal without help. Viktor squeezed Yuuri’s hand. “Misha will be one of the first to congratulate you if you beat him. Just skate your best.”

“I will. Don’t worry.” Cao Bin had to go first anyway. He did put together a very clean program. It would be difficult for Yuuri to hold onto his silver medal.

The pressure got to him a little as he started off. He rarely messed up a triple axel, and even more rarely had trouble with a step sequence, but he was so focused on the quad toe loop that he made those mistakes. Thankfully he didn’t embarrass himself further by then falling on the toe loop – his quad was clean. He got himself settled down and back into the rhythm of the performance, spinning beautifully and at least not touching down out of any of his other jumps. It wasn’t his best performance, he’d give that to Nationals or Four Continents, but it was certainly a redemption from his mistakes at the Olympics.

Yakov’s comments focused mostly on the jumps, although he did give Yuuri hell for the first step sequence. Yuuri’s score popped up – 167, giving him an overall 257 and currently second place, probably dropping to third after Viktor’s skate. Either way, it was a medal.

Viktor’s skate started well with a clean quad flip. Yuuri held his breath waiting to see what he’d do for his second jump, and cheered along with Yakov and Misha when Viktor decided to go for the quad toe loop. He ended up stumbling a bit on the step sequence, but recovered quickly, and continued his program. It went smoothly until the very end, when Viktor was clearly tired as he messed up a triple toe loop. 

Viktor took his seat between Yuuri and Yakov, arms full of flowers and poodles and dragons. “Before you say anything about that last jump, remember how much you yelled at me for not doing both quads at the Olympics.”

Yakov glared. Yuuri tried not to giggle as Yakov spent the entire time blasting Viktor for the toe loop. Viktor’s 172 was more than enough to put him on top with an overall score of 263.

Sharing a podium with Viktor was a dream come true. The only way it could have been better is if it had been Chris or Misha with them. Not that Yuuri had anything against Cao Bin, he just wasn’t close. The photographers went nuts taking pictures when Yuuri grabbed Viktor’s medal to kiss. As Viktor had predicted, Misha was right there when they finally came off the ice to hug them both and congratulate them. No hard feelings at all about Yuuri beating him. "Next stop: next year you'll have to beat Viktor. At least once."


	37. Chapter 37

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Talk about what the future holds...
> 
> Timeline: 24 March 2010

After they got the congratulations out of the way, the reporters started asking about the future. “Yuuri, you’ll be turning eighteen in November. Do you plan to do anything special to celebrate?”

“I’m not going to make any plans for November until Grand Prix assignments are out. My birthday is the day after the Trophee Eric Bompard, so if Viktor or I are assigned there, that would make a difference in what we’d want to do. We shouldn’t have any problem talking Yakov into letting us stay an extra day so we wouldn’t be spending the day on an airplane. If neither of us is assigned there, it’ll probably depend on if either of us makes the Finals. If not, I want to go to Hasetsu and there’d be plenty of time before Nationals.”

“What happens if you have another soulmate?”

Yuuri held back the flinch from his earlier mistake. “Then we’ll have to figure out what to do about it then. There’s no way to plan for that in advance, because there are just too many variables. Who are they, where are they, how old, what do they want...”

“Viktor, what will you do if Yuuri has another soulmate?”

Viktor squeezed Yuuri's hand. “Whatever Yuuri wants me to. His soulmate, his choice.”

“But you’d be willing to share him?”

“If he has another soulmate, the other soulmate has just as much right to Yuuri as I do, unless Yuuri decides otherwise.” Viktor turned to Yuuri. "Please don't cut me off for the newer model?"

The reporters laughed as Yuuri stuck his tongue out at Viktor. “Have you decided when the wedding will be?”

“Next April. When we go to Hasetsu in the next couple months, we’ll work with Yuuri’s friends and family to figure out the exact date, and then we'll be sure to leak the wrong date to the press.” Viktor winked. "Kidding, of course."

“Any other big plans coming up?”

Yuuri shook his head. “I think trying to finish school, plan a wedding, and manage a skating season are plenty for me. Vacation, of course. I’ll have to make a decision about college – if I want to work with a Japanese university for a degree, there’s going to be all kinds of studying to do to pass the exams. If I decide to go through a Russian university, I’m going to need to improve my Russian a lot more. After three years in St. Petersburg I can get around on my own and handle my dance classes, but I don’t think that would be enough for continuing my education.”

“Is there anywhere else you’d consider going?”

Where else would Yuuri go? Well, if he had another soulmate in America or something, that might change things. Not worth mentioning, though. “No. I won’t leave Yakov, and neither would Viktor. If I do a Japanese university, it would be on a long-distance or exchange sort of program.”

“What about you, Viktor? Any plans for you?”

“Not that I know of. Something may come up, of course, but for now it’s just wedding and skating and vacation plans.”

“Yuuri, were you aware that Masato planned on retiring?”

Yuuri jumped. “No, I had no idea. It’s not really that big a surprise, I suppose, seeing as he’s nearly thirty, but I hadn’t heard his plans.”

 

Masato caught Yuuri after the reporters. “Sorry about them. I’d meant to tell you myself, but didn’t get a chance.”

“It’s not your fault. I’ll miss you, though.”

Masato nodded. “I’d thought about doing this last year, but one more Olympics had an allure.”

“And considering you won the gold, you clearly made the right choice.”

“Likely. I’m expecting you to defend the gold for Japan in four years, since I won’t be there to do it.”

“I’ll do my best.” It wouldn't be easy. Viktor and Georgi and Chris would likely still be there, possibly Misha, new talent coming up... but the idea wasn't entirely ridiculous.

“I know. That’s another reason I came back for one more year – you weren’t ready to be Japan’s Ace, not without the Rising qualifier. You are now.”

That set off Yuuri's anxiety. He did not want to be Japan's Ace. That meant even more pressure from expectations. “You really think so?”

“Yes, I do. You’ll make Japan proud.”

 

Back in their hotel room, Viktor caught Yuuri’s hands. “I didn’t want to say anything on camera until I’d talked to you, but I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“What is it?”

“Two things, actually. One, vacation. We’re engaged, I think we can stop worrying about what people will say about us running off somewhere on our own. We’re still going to Hasetsu and Thailand, of course, but if there’s somewhere else you’d like to go…”

“I hadn’t thought of that. Is there somewhere you want to go?”

“There are lots of places I want to go! Australia, Rio, Egypt, New York… for me the trouble is picking one to do now. If we decide to go somewhere.”

Any of those sounded good to Yuuri, but so did some extra time in Hasetsu to get more wedding stuff done. “I’ll think about it and let you know by the end of Worlds?" Viktor nodded with a huge smile. "What’s the other one?”

“Moving.”

“Huh? Moving where?” There was no way he meant leaving St. Petersburg...

“Getting our own place instead of you living with Lilia and me with Yakov. After we’re married it would just be weird to keep living apart even the way we are where I’m very rarely home. We’ve got a year or so to look, but it’s something to think about.”

Yuuri could see the headlines now. It made him grin. “We can start looking whenever. It might be tricky to do the paperwork before I’m eighteen…”

“As your soulmate, I _can_ act as your guardian. It’s creepy and weird and I’ve never done it, but I could. Or Yakov can, that’s part of the contract you have.”

“Yeah. I don’t mind you doing it, in this very limited context, but if you’d be more comfortable having Yakov do it that’s fine too.”

"There's also the question of you having another soulmate..."

"I don't think I do. I know there's no way to know for sure until the dream, unless we want to go through very thorough testing, but I find it hard to believe that anyone could get between us."

Viktor made a face at the mention of testing. "I've gotten calls from researchers who want to study our bond. I've always told them no, so they'll probably start calling you now. If you want to do it later, I'll do one, but not while we're skating."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Schedule note: I start back to school on Wednesday. I will do my best to keep to the daily update schedule, but teaching responsibilities come first, and I do want the opportunity to write other things as well. ;-)


	38. Chapter 38

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> End of Worlds and more talk about the future.
> 
> Timeline: end of March 2010

The next two days featured the ladies’ skate, which Yuuri wasn’t as enthusiastic about watching with Yuuko not there. He still went, to support Tamae and Iona and the Russian skaters and Skye. Tamae took silver, Skye bronze. Paul was thrilled to see her shiny medal.

Viktor and Yuuri kept getting asked about their plans for their exhibition skates. As medalists, they were obviously both skating, so what did they plan to do?

The answer surprised a lot of people. Yuuri went out and did his normal exhibition skate. Cao Bin did his, and then Viktor took the ice to do his normal exhibition skate. The press, naturally, had to ask. “No surprises this time?”

“I think everyone was surprised by the lack of surprises!” Viktor winked at the cameras. “Apparently the plan was to get engaged, but no, we already did that, so we just decided to keep everyone on their toes. After all, we wouldn’t want our surprises to become expected!”

 

With that over, Yuuri started thinking hard about vacation. He even asked Misha, Georgi, and Chris and Masumi for suggestions. They had some good ones, but nothing that really jumped out at Yuuri. They’d be spending time on the beach in Thailand, so another beach didn’t really make sense. Aside from making packing simpler. Which was a good consideration.

Viktor seemed amused by Yuuri’s predicament. “Tell you what – how about I pick three places from my list that I want to go to, and you pick one of those three? Or hate them all and make me choose again, but somehow, I don’t see that being a problem.”

Yuuri agreed, and Viktor gave him the Australian Outback, Egypt, and Peru. “I don’t expect we’ll ever go to any of those on skating trips! Australia, maybe, but not the Outback.”

“Peru? Why Peru?” Australia and Egypt, well, maybe Viktor had a thing for deserts. Besides, they both seemed cool. Peru, on the other hand...

“Machu Picchu, among other Incan places. Lima. Lots of interesting history and some very beautiful scenery and we could see llamas! Llamas are like more interesting sheep, and I know how much you love sheep…”

Yuuri covered his face, but he was laughing. “At least we shouldn’t run into any ninjas.”

Viktor pretended to pout. “I know. That is a downside, but we are going to Hasetsu. There are ninjas there.”

“You and history seems like a weird combination.”

“Why? It's so fun, lots of great stories! Also, lots of good inspiration for skating." Viktor winked, but quickly sobered. More than usual for him. "I was thinking maybe I’d major in it at university when I go.”

“You’re… going to university?” Not that Viktor wasn't smart enough, Yuuri had just assumed he wasn't interested in college and didn't feel the need to go since he'd never have to work a job that required one.

“Most male Russian skaters do. Russia has compulsory military service starting at 18, and being a student is one way to get exempted. No one's going to buy that I have a physical disability that makes military service impossible for me.”

“Okay, so why now instead of right after you finished high school?” He hadn't thought of that - Japan didn't have it. It made him shiver to think of Viktor in uniform for real, not just for a skating program.

Viktor kissed his temple reassuringly. “So far, they’ve been deferring me because of my underage soulmate. Their policy, not mine, and not one that’s guaranteed to work for everyone. The recruiters don’t always pay attention. One good thing about the media loving me: I’m high-enough profile that there would’ve been questions if they tried to make me go despite qualifying for an exemption. There’s a possibility, given our well-known trouble with separation, that they could make that a permanent deferral on medical grounds, but I’d rather not count on it when there’s a better way. Besides, university will be fun with you!”

“Okay, but...” That only protected him until November.

“You’re finished in March, right?”

“Yes, but unless I start right away at a Japanese university, that still leaves almost a year.”

Viktor shook his head. “They draft in the fall – this year you’re still underage until after it’s done, and next year, I should be in school.”

“Oh. Good. What happens after we’re done?”

Viktor shrugged. “I don’t know. I might be able to stay in school, work on an advanced degree. That’s something I’ll figure out when it’s a little closer.” His face lit up with a smile. “Speaking of closer, it’s vacation time, where are we going?”

“Peru. But you’re taking me to see llamas!” Yuuri leaned in to curl up against Viktor. “The other thing we might want to do… Irina’s supposed to have her baby in June, isn’t she? Someone should take Yuri out to New York to meet his sister…”

“That’ll be a fun trip for whoever goes. Are you sure you want to?”

“Not really, but I don’t know that Misha and Emiliya would want to go with her pregnant, and Yuri hates Anya for some reason so Georgi probably won’t want to either. If Yakov can’t do it, we’re the best choice.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Clearly, this is not The End. Too many dangling plot threads. (Plot yarns? Plot rags?) Look for this to continue - hopefully tomorrowday (it's technically still the 4th where I am but most of y'all will be reading this on the 5th). (Suggestions for titles are welcome! I'm bad at those.) XD
> 
> Sorry this is so late. It's nothing to do with the end of this story or getting things ready for the next one, it's because I had one of those days where Writing Was Not Happening.
> 
> Also, because it came up a couple times in comments: Yuuri WILL NOT have another soulmate in canon. The media just wanted to stir up shit by raising the possibility.

**Author's Note:**

> If you have suggestions for ships you'd like to see in this 'verse, please let me know in the comments!
> 
> Canon: Christmas (Chris and Mystery Man Masumi), Makkachin/Vicchan, Yakov/Lilia.
> 
> AU: Chulacometti, Christophe/Georgi, Chris/Paul, Phichuuri+, Yuuko/Takeshi/Seung Gil, Paul/Rykov.
> 
> Undecided Canonicity: Otayuri, Leoji, Milasara and Emimike, Marichu, Seungchuchu, Minami/Yurio/Otabek, Phiciaociao, JJBella, Minami/Chris, Plinami, Phichit/Leo/Guang Hong, JJSeung, Otapliroy, Pliroy, JJBek, Otaseung.
> 
> On the list to write in whatever order I get ideas for them: Otachu, Otabek/OC, Viktuuri/YuuYu/Otayuri, Chris/Viktuuri, Chulacometti/Viktuuri, Chris/Seung Gil, Sara/Seung Gil + Georgi/Michele, Phichit/Mila, Phichit/Yurio, Mila/Minami, Mari/Kokei, Mari/Georgi, Yakov/Nikolai, Lilia/Minako, Mari/Sasha, Sasha/Rykov


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